The New Boy at Shiz
by Annibelle White
Summary: Yet another Fiyeraba romance. This one is going to go a lot slower than the others, I mean as in how fast the characters move with each other. I tend to move fast. This won't. This takes place the day after Fiyero's first day at Shiz. Pairing: Fiyeraba
1. A Question of Religion

**Chapter One: A Question of Religion**

He was the talk of the class. Who in Oz _was_ this strange new boy? Elphaba and Boq noticed he'd decided (wisely) on sitting in one of the far back seats in life sciences. Boq suggested they go talk to the new student, who, apparently, was a tribal prince.

"What if he thinks we're crazy?" Elphaba asked. "After yesterday, I wouldn't blame him. Besides, he surely has different customs than we do, don't you think?"

"Since when have you cared if people think you're crazy? Come on, it might be an interesting learning experience to find out about his culture." Boq pleaded.

"Oh, all right, all right." Elphaba relented, her pointed nose in the air. She, Boq and (to her disappointment) Avaric climbed the bleachers and Boq and Avaric sat on either side of the new student. Elphaba chose to sit next to Boq, as far from Avaric as she could get.

"Hi, I'm Boq." He looked at Elphaba, expecting her to introduce herself.

"Oh! Right. I'm Elphaba," she said hurriedly and sat down.

The new boy introduced himself as Fiyero. His life and culture were interesting indeed. He was a Winkie (a student from the Vinkus, to be politically correct) and he was a prince of the Arjiki tribe. Elphaba wanted to ask about the blue diamonds tattooed on his skin, but thought that perhaps it would be rude. She nudged Boq again; she wasn't going to come up with conversation.

"What's life like in the Vinkus?" Boq asked.

Elphaba leaned closer, curious.

"Well, half of the year is our hunting season. We hunt as a tribe. And our apparel is much different than everyone else's around here. We are different in many ways, I realize. One of them obviously, would be the color of our skin," Fiyero's eyes drifted towards Elphaba, "and the tattooed markings on our bodies."

Her cheeks darkened and she smiled lightly. "I'm nothing ethnic. I'm a freak of nature. I'm not elfish. I'm actually from Munchkinland. I'm the only green Munchkinlander. Well, I know _I _haven't heard of any others."

"So it may be, we're both quite different." He was comfortable with them. The prince acted as if she was just like everyone else he'd met at Shiz. He acted as if she was from a different part of Oz (and she was), as if she was a foreigner, but not a freak of nature, and she liked that.

Elphaba felt the strangest tingling when she looked into the Vinkus boy's eyes. His eyes, like his skin and the blue diamonds, were beautiful. Perhaps it was how different he was, but it was more than that. She wasn't of the nature to have a crush on _anyone_ and she barely knew this boy. But she couldn't help it… he was so – well, she had to admit it sooner or later – desirable.

Doctor Nikidik began talking and mumbling suddenly, and the four students sat up straighter and attempted to listen. After a few minutes, Elphaba became bored and started doodling in her notebook. She drew a picture of the teacher, more of a cartoon exaggeration, really, and wrote on the bottom: _mumble, mumble, mumble_. She passed it to Boq.

Boq read it and almost snorted, grinning. Fiyero, curious, looked over Boq's shoulder to see what he was laughing at. He smiled, looked at Elphaba and nodded, as if agreeing with her. She was unable to stop herself from smiling back.

They left class together. Not long after they exited the building, though, Avaric called Fiyero over to him, acting like they were best pals, which immediately made Elphaba turn icy. When Fiyero had walked away, she said, "Poor boy. I thought there was hope he could succeed, but now, seeing as he seems to be so close to Avaric…"

"Oh, Elphie, you are such a cynic."

"And you are a fool."

"I am not!"

"You were in love with Glinda, and only fools fall in love."

"Whatever you say."

That night, when the usual group met at the café, Avaric had brought Fiyero along. Elphaba, though still suspicious of his friendship with Avaric, was glad to see the prince. There were moments that she wished he wasn't there, though, because she found those beautiful blue diamonds to be incredibly distracting. She hated to admit it to herself, but she was a little disappointed when he said he'd been married for a long time, because they do the pre-arranged marriage sort of tradition in the Vinkus. But it wasn't as if she really liked him or had a chance anyway, so she shrugged it off.

Avaric started a grand discussion on religion, which immediately turned into banter between the two Thropp sisters. Nessa would have none of Elphaba's supposed atheism.

"There is no soul, Nessa. I have no soul. Perhaps you do, but I certainly don't."

"What would Father say if he heard this?"

Fiyero interrupted. "We don't have much religion in the Vinkus."

"Really?" Asked Elphaba. "Your people are geniuses."

"Elphaba!" Nessa was scandalized.

"You don't believe in the unnamed God? Or Lurline?"

"We celebrate Lurlinemas, but the only thing we do then is give gifts; we honestly have no idea why we're celebrating."

Elphaba was enthralled. "Wow. Too bad Munchkinland couldn't be like that."

Nessa gave up about then and pretended not to care.

"So, if you don't have religion, where does tradition come from?"

"The only tradition we have is marrying young, and arranged by our parents. We don't know where that came from. It may be just a societal thing. I honestly don't think that it's all that strict; because I've seen people find ways around it. But it's difficult to get around, so, unless they really had a good reason, I see it as pointless to refuse."

Elphaba nodded solemnly. "That's very interesting."

Fiyero smiled at her and then Avaric started talking (it was all talk with Avaric) about the Philosophy Club. Elphaba looked up at Fiyero once to find him looking at her and she quickly looked away. Those diamonds…

He was naïve, and there was a certain appeal about that. However, Elphaba was sure that he would lose such naiveté if he hung too much with Avaric.

As they walked back to the dormitories, Fiyero approached Elphaba. "What makes you so against religion?"

"Aren't you supposed to be attached to Avaric?" The cruelty in her voice came as no surprise to her, but it did surprise her that he ignored it.

"Avaric is a little above the rest of us, isn't he? Boq told me what he said about me the first day I walked into class."

Elphaba softened immediately. "It was really rude of him. He says that sort of thing all the time, though. Try not to be offended."

"I don't really care what he said. He does have a bit of nerve acting like he's someone's best friend right after insulting them, though."

"Yes, he does."

"So, you didn't answer my question."

"About religion? Oh, it's just, my father was a Unionist minister and I had more than enough religion growing up than I wanted in an entire lifetime." Out of the corner of her eye, she studied the diamonds on his hands, not sure why she was doing so.

"I can imagine that would be enough to do that to someone."

Elphaba replied, "It sucked."

Fiyero laughed. "Sounds like it."

The girls and boys seperated then, the girls to go back to their building, and the boys to go back to theirs. Trying for subtlty, Elphaba said, "It's too bad you have any tradition at all. I mean about the marrying young thing. Because what if you loved someone else?"

"I've seen people get out of it," Fiyero shrugged. It didn't seem to bother him much.

"What do you mean?" Elphaba asked curiously.

"Well, my elder sister got out of it." He answered. Not very good at his own subtlty, he said, "I'm allowed to date, anyway. So at this point I don't care much."

Seeing Glinda, Pfanee, Shen-Shen, Nessa and Nanny heading towards the girls' dormitories, Elphaba hurried, "I'd better go."

"I liked talking with you. See you in class."

When she joined the rest of the girls to head back, Elphaba's supposedly non-existant soul was flying high.


	2. Elphaba's Politics

**Chapter Two: Elphaba's Political Views**

The next life sciences lecture was held in the same lecture hall, as usual, but Fiyero didn't choose to arrive as early and sit in the very back as he had the week before. This time, he waited until he saw Boq, Elphaba and Avaric enter the lecture hall and entered discreetly a few moments later. Pretending to have only just spotted them, he waved at them and was more than relieved when Boq waved back and offered him a seat between he and Elphaba.

Settling in next to Boq and Elphaba, Fiyero whispered to Elphaba, "Are you going to entertain us with any more of your humorous drawings today?"

Elphaba's cheeks got hot. "If I feel inspired, perhaps."

"What is it about Dr. Nikidik that you dislike so much? Most students just make fun of him, but I can tell that, with you, it's more than that."

"I don't agree with his political views. Then again, most people don't agree with mine."

"What do you mean?" Fiyero asked innocently.

His innocence was sweet. "Well, I believe, unlike the majority of Oz, that Animals should be treated with the equality that they were treated with up until recently; that is, up until the Wizard took reign. Unforetunately, not many Ozians agree with my _humble_ opinion."

Fiyero glanced around him. "I didn't even notice the lack of Animals until you said anything. In the Vinkus, there aren't many Animals, but we've never treated them any differently."

"Well, it's too bad the rest of Oz can't be like your people." Elphaba commented.

He wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic, but she seemed genuine. "Why should we treat Animals any differently?"

"We shouldn't." Elphaba said.

"But why do other people?"

"Because they're stupid and discriminatory."

"I don't understand people around here." Fiyero admitted.

Elphaba nodded. "Neither do I."

"Was it like this in Munchkinland?"

"I was too ignorant to take any notice," Elphaba conceded. "But then Dr. Dillamond showed me what was going on around here and ever since then, it's become more noticeable."

"Who's Dr. Dillamond?"

Elphaba's face fell. "He was our professor before Dr. Nikidik, a Goat. He was an Animal Rights activist. But someone murdered him."

"Murder?"

"People will do anything to make their political point. This one seemed to be a warning to the rest of the Animals who were speaking out. I, for one, don't care."

"But doesn't it scare you?"

"Not in the least." Elphaba stated boldly. "If someone wants to kill me off, they don't even know what's coming to them."

Fiyero laughed, then stopped himself quickly, realizing the subject was not a funny one. "But, really, you're not afraid?"

"A little." She looked at her feet. "But I'm only a college student. There's not much I can do. I'm no danger to anyone at this point. Why would anyone bother to kill me? They don't have to worry about me. Not yet, at least."

"They?"

"The rest of Oz." Elphaba answered simply, waving it off. "Well, almost. I'm sure one or two other people believe in Animal Rights, but you'd better believe they've been silenced."

Fiyero shuddered. "I don't think I like being outside the Vinkus all that much."

"It must be nice," said Elphaba dreamily.

"What?"

"Living so far away from politics and problems."

"We have our own problems."

"Like what?" She was curious, not mocking.

"Well, there are three main tribes out in the Vinkus, and they're always killing one another. My tribe, the Arjikis, we're in a good place right now, but things could change."

"I've always wondered what it's like there."

"You should come out sometime," he blurted.

Forgetting who she was talking to, she nodded slightly. "That'd be an interesting culture study."

He began to feel like a scientific experiment. "Well, it'd be more than that. A bunch of us could go out there over the summer. Like you, and Boq and your friend, what's her name?"

"Glinda? Oh, she's hardly my friend."

"It seems like you two are close."

Elphaba shrugged.

"But, as I was saying, it'd be more than just a culture study."

"Oh, yes, of course." Agreed Elphaba, seeing that she'd almost offended him. Suddenly, she became quiet. "Maybe we should talk later. I think Dr. Nikidik is looking at us."

"But he can barely see this far back," Fiyero protested.

Elphaba giggled, a sound that was foreign to both of them. She looked away, shocked. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"That was loud. I thought maybe Dr. Nikidik heard us."

"He didn't."

"Are you sure?" Elphaba peered down towards the professor.

"Absolutely."

She sighed in relief. "He'd probably lecture me for blabbing on about my political views again. He's such an asshole."

"I've only been in this class twice. Then again, he wasn't particularly kind to me when I stumbled in my first day."

"He blamed you for interuppting his lesson. It wasn't your fault." Elphaba whispered.

"And then the antlers..."

"That was freaky. I always wondered what happened that caused them to just attack you like that. But you were lucky Crope and Tibbett were around. I'd never trust them with my life, but they seemed to have saved yours."

"What are they really like?"

"Crope and Tibbett?" Elphaba smiled. "They're women to the core."

"What?"

"They dress up all of the time. They like to use espionage as an excuse for drag, but anyone can tell why they really do it."

Fiyero laughed and got the evil eye from Dr. Nikidik.

Elphaba didn't notice. "But they're fun."

"They seemed fun."

"They provide some good entertainment."

"Like your drawings?"

"Much more than my pathetic little doodles." Elphaba laughed lightly.

"I like knowing what you have to say, even if I have to read it through a cartoon."

Elphaba was embarassed. "I'm not an artist or anything."

"You're fun to talk to."

She looked back at Dr. Nikidik. "I think he heard us."

When Fiyero glanced at the professor, Dr. Nikidik made no sign of having heard them, but Elphaba refused to speak for the rest of the class. Fiyero was too shy to push the subject, and apparently, so was she.

This was turning out to be one interesting group of friends he'd met.


	3. Excuses, Excuses

**Chapter Three: Excuses, Excuses**

The weather began to get colder at Shiz, and snow threatened often. Elphaba kept inside and would often refuse to go on group outings for fear of being touched by the harsh wetness of the snow. This disappointed Boq and Fiyero, as well as Avaric, who was looking desperately for someone to poke fun at.

Late one lazy afternoon, Boq, Fiyero, Glinda, Crope, Tibbett, Nanny and Nessa had joined forces to drag Elphaba out from the protective shelter of her dorm and they spent several hours at the café, playing cards and chatting. Nessa and Elphaba argued, as usual, mercilessly about religion, Avaric continually brought up the Philosophy Club and Tibbett and Crope kept coming up with various reasons to dress as women.

"Hey, Elphaba, you still suspect that tick-tock thing of having something to do with Dillamond's murder, right?" Crope asked.

Elphaba nodded and blew at the steam emanating from her tea.

Tibbett finished Crope's idea. "We could sneak into Morrible's office, dressed as elderly women who are also planning on funding schools for girls..."

"Do any of your plans ever include dressing as men?" Elphaba raised her eyebrows.

"That's no fun," pouted Crope.

"Yeah, really." Agreed Tibbett.

Elphaba and Boq rolled their eyes at each other and Boq suggested, "Why not just dress as women _without_ an excuse?"

"Because then we have no reason to _act_ like women!" Tibbett replied.

"Oh, of course," Boq remarked sarcastically, laughing. "Why not just act as women just for the fun of seeing how many people actually believe you?"

Crope and Tibbett looked at each other. Excitedly, Crope said, "I like the way he thinks."

"Hey, Boq, if you ever want to join us on one of our outings..."

"I'm going to have to decline that invitation."

"Yeah, no one wants to see _him_ attempting to dress as a woman." Elphaba voiced. "I'd take a fork to my eyes and blind myself if I ever had to see _that_."

Boq looked offended, then realized it might seem a bit odd of a thing to be offended by. "Whatever. She's probably right."

Crope and Tibbett pretended to be sad for a moment and then began a private discussion of further cross-dressing plans.

Elphaba sighed, laughing helplessly. "Boq, sometimes I wonder about you..."

Boq looked terrified. "Elphaba! How dare you say that!" He lowered his voice. "Especially in front of Ms. Glinda."

"Oh, of course. Oz forbid." Elphaba mocked.

"Miss Elphie!" Boq scolded.

"Whatever."

"You'd resent me if I said that about you." Boq pointed out.

"No, I _am_ a girl, thank you very much, Boq."

Everyone laughed. Avaric piped up, "Well, at least that's what the doctors think."

"Aw, shut up Avaric." Muttered Boq.

Elphaba glared at both Avaric and Boq (Boq only because she resented someone else telling Avaric to shut his mouth before she got the chance to). "However, Avaric, I'm sorry to say the doctors still aren't very sure about _you._ In fact, they're more positive about Crope and Tibbett than they are about you."

Crope spoke up angrily, "They are not!"

"Really, Elphaba, don't say such horrid things," added Tibbett.

Glinda put her word in, having a secret crush on Avaric, who was the only male at the table who was even close to what she thought of at her status. "Seriously, Miss Elphie, I'm disturbed at some of the things you say."

Elphaba was bothered by the prospect of Glinda sticking up for Avaric. "Miss Glinda, what has gotten into you today? Since when has anything I've had to say sparked any sort of opinion from you?"

"I just think it's rude, that's all." Glinda stuck her nose in the air.

Elphaba saw that it was more than this. But she was made uncomfortable thinking that Glinda could like Avaric rather than Boq, and she decided she'd talk to her roommate later when they were in their dorm.

"Glinda?"

Surprised that the green girl was making an effort at conversation, Glinda looked up from her drawer of blouses that she'd been reorganizing. "What?"

"Why were you so defensive about Avaric this afternoon?"

"No reason. I just think it incredibly rude of you to insult him so."

"Glinda, he insulted me first."

"Well... still."

After a long pause, Elphaba asked, "Do you like anyone, Glinda?"

"No, of course not. I don't bother with dating."

"Not even if you were to find someone of your _honorable _status?" Elphaba mocked.

"Miss Elphie, I am shocked at the way you talk sometimes."

"Well, Miss Glinda, I'm shocked with the way you _act _sometimes."

Glinda glared at Elphaba. "Well, I have _class._"

"I'm sure you do." Elphaba snorted.

"And you obviously do not. People who have class do not snort, Miss Elphaba."

"Thanks for informing me."

"You are so... just undignified!"

"Whatever." Elphaba shrugged. "At least I don't have a crush on nasty old Avaric."

"Neither do I. I just happen to think it is disrespectful for someone like you to throw such insults at someone like him."

"Someone like him meaning: someone of similar social class?"

"It means nothing of the sort!"

"Then what does it mean?"

"Someone from Gillikin." Glinda answered.

"Miss Glinda, I don't care where our dear friend Master Avaric is from, I think he's a bastard and needs to be put in his place."

"Your language is disgusting, Miss Elphaba."

"Sure, Glinda. Sure it is."

"I will not be talked to this way!" Glinda huffed, turning around to go back to her drawers.

"Whatever, Miss High and Mighty." Elphaba replied.

They didn't speak for the rest of the week, and by the time they spoke again, several things would have changed.


	4. Why not?

**Chapter Four: More than being 'interesting'**

Fiyero sat outside on a rainy winter day, reading a letter he'd received from home when Boq sat next to him. "Hey, Fiyero, what's up?"

Fiyero shrugged. "Not that much. The winter holidays are coming up, are you going home?"

"I'm staying here. My family can't afford to send me home this year. Don't tell that to Ms. Glinda, though. If she knew my family was low on money, she'd like me even less."

Fiyero was curious as to what Boq saw in the blonde, head-in-the-clouds girl. "Why do you like her so much if she's so material, Master Boq?"

"She's beautiful."

"You're vain."

"Come on, tell me you don't stare at pretty girls."

"We had a different view on 'pretty' in the Vinkus."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, I'm not quite sure what it is, either. The only women I was ever allowed to see growing up were related to me."

Boq was amused. "Really? I didn't see that many girls growing up, at least not pretty ones. There weren't many pretty girls in Munchkinland. In fact, when I was growing up, two of the only girls I saw very often were Ms. Elphaba and her sister, Nessarose."

"So that's how you know Elphaba."

"We were playmates when we were three feet tall. Then again, three feet tall in Munchkinland..."

"I know what you mean." Fiyero said hurriedly. "Well, my eldest sister is getting married in the city and I'm supposed to travel over there. I'm allowed to bring a few people. If you, Crope and Tibbett would like to come, you're welcome to."

"Crope and Tibbett will only go if they're allowed to dress as women." Boq guessed.

Fiyero bit his lip. "I'm not so sure what my Arjiki relatives would think of that..."

"You can invite Avaric."

Fiyero winced. "I'd rather not. After all, you told me what he said about me."

"Oh, yeah."

"What about Elphaba, and her friend that you're so in love with, Ms. Glinda? Do you think they would like to come?" Fiyero asked, hopeful.

"Ms. Glinda wouldn't deny an opportunity to see the city, though I doubt she'd go if Elphie didn't go." Boq brightened. "Fiyero, my good man, you are a genius! That would give me plenty of time with Ms. Glinda. I've just got to talk Elphie into actually going."

"Get someone else to go." Said Elphaba when Boq requested her presence. "Crope and Tibbett would love to go."

"But only you could convince Ms. Glinda to come along!" Boq protested.

Elphaba peered at Boq angrily. "Sometimes I think the only reason we're friends is because you want me to talk you up to the wonderful, goddess-like Ms. Glinda."

"It is not!"

"Besides, she and I aren't even talking."

"What?" Boq was distressed.

"We're in a disagreement."

"About what?"

"About _class_."

"Which class?"

Elphaba snorted. "Boq, you really are a dumb idiot. When I said class I meant class meaning: social manners, social _class._"

"Oh. And I'm not an idiot."

"Remind me when you prove it." Elphaba answered. "Besides, why would _Fiyero_ want _me_ along, anyway?"

Boq studied Elphie's face. "Fiyero thinks you're interesting."

"Maybe I don't feel like being dragged along somewhere just because I'm interesting!" Elphaba said hotly.

That was strange, Boq noted. Elphaba would love to go along, no matter why Fiyero had asked, he was sure of it. She'd find it a great culture study. Obviously, there was something he wasn't taking into consideration. Apparently, she was offended that Fiyero found her interesting. That must mean she wanted Fiyero to think something more of her than that. Did Elphie like Fiyero? Like _that_? "Elphie, why do you care?"

"Because I'm tired of being talked to and made friends with only because I'm interesting, that's why I care."

"What sparked this sudden change in feeling?" Boq asked, confused.

"It's just..." Elphaba halted her speaking. "Never mind. You wouldn't... no, you couldn't understand."

"Maybe I do understand. I'm tired of being brought along because _someone_ wants an entire group with her so she looks popular."

Elphaba looked at Boq sympathetically. "It's not that, Boq. She thinks you're fun."

"I want to be more than fun."

"Tell me about it." Elphaba agreed.

"What do you mean?"

Elphaba's eyes went wide, realizing she'd almost seemed to have more feeling than usual. "Oh, nothing. Everyone thinks I'm interesting, but no one really wants to be my friend, that's all."

"I do." Said Boq.

"You don't count."

"I feel loved."

"You should." Elphaba grinned.

"But I mean, I want someone to _like_ me."

"Correction: you want Ms. Glinda to like you."

"Well, yeah."

"And I want... nothing." Elphaba looked across the table at the café (where they'd been having this discussion) longingly.

It wasn't hard for Boq to realize she was staring at Fiyero. He let his eyes drift towards Glinda, who was pointedly refusing to look in Elphaba's direction. "Beautiful."

"I know." Elphaba mumbled, still staring at Fiyero.

Neither of them realized what Elphaba had said, at least not until later. Boq watched Glinda wrinkle her nose at Avaric, who had made yet another nasty sexual innuendo. This rejection of Avaric cheered Boq up at he went back to needling Elphaba. "Will you go, please?"

"I don't know..." Elphaba tore her gaze from the diamond boy.

"You never know. You could meet people. Or something could blossom from someone you already knew." Boq suggested.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fiyero smile at her. Elphaba smiled back and then looked at Boq. "You know what? Why not?"

**AN: Should I do disclaimers? I don't know. Putting something on this webiste IS a disclaimer, considering you're admitting it's FAN fiction. I don't know. All WICKED fans, please come join me and my forum at thankgoodness, the links in my profile. I'd love to have you. The more fans we get, the bigger community we have of people who can share the same obsession! LOL.**


	5. How Things Seem

**Chapter Five: How Things Seem**

**AN: Sorry, I've got finals and other stuff going on, so updating has been slow.**

"Elphie? Elphie?" Boq was too bored to sit in the carriage while Fiyero snored quietly and the girls slept. It was too much. And there was no way he was going to sleep, he'd slept while they'd all been awake.

"Ugh." Elphaba groaned. "What the hell do you want, Boq?"

"Just feel like talking."

"Maybe I don't." Elphaba snapped.

"Come on, please?" Boq begged.

She sighed and sat up, rudely brushing Glinda's head from her shoulder. "What do you want to talk about?"

Glinda rubbed her eyes. "Hey!"

"Sorry." Elphaba said.

Fiyero woke. "Guys, we're almost there."

"What do you mean: almost there? The journey takes days." Elphaba reminded him.

"I know that! I meant we're almost at the hotel we'll be spending the night at. Look." Fiyero gestured out the window.

Elphaba, who was sitting across from Fiyero, looked out the window he'd pointed at. "I see it. Are we sleeping in four seperate rooms or do I have to share a room with her?"

"Elphie!" Glinda whined. "You're my roomie. It's not as if you don't share a room with me every other day."

"A break would be nice." Snipped the green girl.

"Actually," Fiyero hung his head, "when my parents booked this, they thought it'd be four guys..."

"Oh, no," Elphaba sighed.

"Ew!" Glinda chimed in.

"I'll sleep on the floor." Elphaba decided.

"There are only two beds..." Fiyero bit his lip.

"Well, there's no way Glinda'll sleep on the floor." Elphaba pointed out.

"I'll sleep in chairs." Fiyero said.

"But you're a prince. How are you ever going to deal with such conditions?" Elphaba half mocked.

Fiyero, somewhat offended, replied, "I'm not spoiled."

Elphaba raised her eyebrows but shrugged and stared out the window until the carriage stopped.

The floor was carpeted, but crawling with insects. Elphaba tried to pay them no mind, for her home in Munchkinland had not been very sanitary, either. But she was used to the more comfortable living atmosphere of Shiz... the living atmosphere without bugs. "I can't do this." She muttered to herself in the middle of the night and got up, not sure of what she was doing

"And you thought I couldn't handle uncomfortable sleeping." Fiyero commented, for his sleep had been just as unsucessful and he hadn't slept much, either.

Elphaba jumped, previously unaware that anyone had been awake. "Fiyero. Good evening..."

"Good morning, you mean." He nodded towards the clock on the wall. "It's three a.m."

Elphaba sighed heavily. "Can't sleep?"

"Not a wink."

"Same."

Fiyero moved and pulled one of the chairs out from the makeshift bed he'd made. He dragged it next to his. "Come sit, then."

Shivering, Elphaba obeyed. "Why'd you want me along on this silly trip, anyway?" She got right to the point.

"You're my friend, aren't you?" He asked nervously.

"Well, yes. But I wouldn't invite Boq on vacation with me and Boq is my friend."

"Well, if you were allowed to invite anyone, who would you invite?"

"No one."

"That's the difference between you and me, Elphie."

She cast him a suspicious glance. He didn't usually call her by the nickname that Glinda and Boq so casually used. "What?"

"I'm not antisocial." He said daringly.

"Neither am I." Elphaba shot back. "I just... don't like most people."

"What about me?"

That had been a brave question. "What do you mean: what about you? I'm here, aren't I?"

"From what I heard, you took a lot of convincing." Fiyero leaned back in his chair, the back of his head resting on his hands.

"Well, I don't go anywhere without a lot of convincing!" She argued.

"Maybe you should stop being so stiff." Fiyero suggested.

Elphaba was hurt by this comment. "Stiff? I'm not... am I?"

Seeing her sudden vulnerability, he assured her, "Not really. It's just... you seem that way at times."

"At times?"

"Not that often." He reassured her.

She stared at her hands. "Probably quite often."

"What?"

"I'm not a cold person, you know."

He didn't know where she was going with the conversation. "I didn't say you were, Elphie."

"You think I am."

He didn't answer.

"Everyone thinks I am."

He was tempted to tell her that she'd never given anyone reason to think otherwise, but instead he urged her on. "Why do you say that?"

"I'm not stupid, Fiyero."

"I know that." He said truthfully.

"People are cold to me, you know?"

He nodded solemnly.

"So why should I be kind to people who normally reject me?"

"Boq, Glinda and I didn't reject you, did we?"

"Glinda did, initially. Boq only hangs around me because he wants details on Glinda."

"No..."

"Yes!" She argued. "He does. I can tell."

"He may ask a lot of questions about her, but that doesn't mean that's the only reason he's friends with you."

"It seems like it."

"Well, I'd say you seem like a cold person, but since you're telling me otherwise, not everything is what it seems, is it?"

This made her shudder. The boy had a deeper mind than she'd thought he had. "Of course not."

"Then don't assume anything." Fiyero told her.

She couldn't look at him, it was disturbing her how much she was attracted to him when the combination of his looks and his mind converged in her mind. "Fiyero, this is ridiculous. This conversation is absurd."

"Actually, it's quite accurate, if you ask me." Fiyero opined.

"I didn't ask you." She tried to say teasingly, though it came out cruel.

He knew she'd meant otherwise. "Well, that's why I said 'if'."

The lights came on. "Guys, what's going on?" Boq stretched and looked at the two figures talking as his eyes adjusted to the light.

"Couldn't sleep." Both Fiyero and Elphaba said hurriedly.

"Well, can you please keep it down?"

Elphaba guiltily made her way back to the wall she'd been attempting to sleep besides. "Sure, Boq." She didn't look at Fiyero again until the reached the city.


	6. Curious

**Chapter Six: Curious**

**AN: I know I've got finals, but this was easy. So here's more.**

At the hotel in the city, Fiyero's parents had booked four rooms, one for each of them. They were to be staying for a week. The first night they were there, Fiyero decided he'd had enough of the silent treatment that Elphaba had been unadmittedly giving him. "Elphie?"

She opened the door, surprised to see who was there. "Fiyero, what...?"

He pushed his way through the door, asking (a bit too late), "May I come in?" Realizing she'd given him no answer, he said, "Thanks."

She rolled her eyes and sat down on the edge of the bed, far away from the chair he'd chosen. Lazily, she kicked her heels. "What do you want?"

"I was... just checking up on everyone."

"Oh," she said, getting up. "Well, I'm fine, you can leave." She opened the door.

"Not so fast, Elphie."

"Why does everyone insist on calling me that dreadful nickname?" She asked, exasperated.

"If you don't like it, I can call you something else, whatever else you want."

"Then call me by my _name_."

"All right, Elphaba." He pushed the door shut again. "May I talk to you?"

"Do I have a choice?"

He smiled comfortingly. "Of course."

"Well, then sure, you can talk to me." She was surprised by his giving her the freedom to kick him right out of the room. It was something she so badly wanted to do, but she wanted him to stay, as well.

He wasn't sure what he'd planned on saying. "Well, Elphaba, I..."

"Yes?" She asked, expectant.

"I just need to talk to someone, I guess." He lied.

"What is it?" She was concerned now.

"My sister's only a year older than me and she's getting married. It's scary."

"Why? It's not like you have to do the same thing so quickly."

"I'll miss my sister." He sighed.

She was touched by his admission of tenderness towards a sibling. "I guess I'd feel that way if Nessa got married. Not that I ever have to worry about that. She's kind of a hassle to care for, no one in their right mind would marry her."

Fiyero tried to laugh and failed.

"Anyway, you were saying...?"

"I don't know." He didn't want to tell her he'd secretly come in to learn more about this girl, this creature whom he was so curious about. "What would you do if Nessa did get married?"

"That's about as likely as me getting married, and that's quite unlikely."

"Why are you so negative when it comes to yourself, Elphaba?"

"Everyone's negative when it comes to me." She attempted a joke, though it was more sardonic and pitiful than funny.

"Do you really think that?"

"I _know_ that." She corrected.

He didn't wish to argue with her, so he changed the subject. "Do you know what you want to do with your future, then?"

"You seem to have this idea that everyone needs to get married. A woman doesn't need a man, Fiyero." Elphaba said haughtily. "Especially not me."

"Don't we all need someone at some point?"

"You sound like Boq." Elphaba waved his comment away.

"He must be rubbing off on me," Fiyero wondered aloud.

"Or maybe it's something else."

"Maybe." He smiled.

His smile made her nervous and she paced the room for a moment. "What?" She caught him staring at her.

"Nothing, nothing."

"Right." She didn't believe him.

"You amuse me, that's all." He grinned in attempt to hide the total awe in which she often left him.

"Must be my skin color."

"It's more than that. You're an interesting person."

"There it is again!" She was aggravated for some reason he didn't understand. "Interesting!"

"What?"

"Oh, never mind me." Elphaba mentally slapped herself.

"Okay... But, really, Elphaba, you're a good friend. Thank you for listening to me." Fiyero got up, lost for words.

"Fiyero..."

"What?"

"I..."

"Yeah?"

"I hope you feel better about this. It's not a bad thing." She didn't know how to prevent herself from becoming sentimental.

"Thank you."

She began to close the door.

"Elphaba?"

She caught the door before shutting it. "Yes?"

"I really appreciate this."

"Who else would listen? Glinda's too obsessed with herself and Boq's too preoccupied with Glinda tolisten."

"But still, you didn't have to listen. Thank you."

She shrugged. "Really, Fiyero, it was nothing."

"We should talk like this more often."

"If you want to talk, you're welcome to tell me. But don't expect me to come to you with my problems."

He doubted she had problems. "All right. Thanks again."

"No problem, Fiyero."

"Good night, Elphaba."

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"_Elphaba_."

"I think I should call you Elphie just to get on your nerves."

"Don't you dare..." She warned, giggling a little.

He raised his eyebrows at her giggle and she swifly covered her mouth with her hand. "What?"

"I just... don't hear that sound very often."

"It's a nice sound."

She blushed. "Good night." And the door was shut. Quickly, she threw herself down on the bed. "I can't." Elphaba scolded herself, unsure about what.

Fiyero stared at the door and walked away. He thought he really would have these talks with Elphaba more often. There was something about her that made him more than curious.


	7. Feelings Expressed

The morning after they'd arrived, he knocked on her door once again. "Just seeing if you wanted to go out and see the city. Glinda's going out and Boq's accompanying her. She'd really like you to come with."

"No, thanks."

"She'll be disappointed."

"She didn't try and talk you into going?"

"She did try. It's not as easy for her with me when I'm not drooling all over myself like Boq."

Elphaba smiled lightly. "True. Is there anything else?"

Now was the only time he'd ever get to express his growing feelings for her. "I like you." He sighed in relief, glad to have gotten out what, for the past week or so, had been his deepest secret.

"Well, I like you, too." She said, pretending his words had no meaning other than friendship.

"No, Elphie, you see..."

"Not Elphie!"

"I can't help it."

"Fine." She shrugged.

"You see, _Elphie_, I like you in more than just one way."

She blinked and looked away. "I'm afraid I don't understand, Fiyero."

He blocked the doorway, which was the direction she'd looked. "Elphaba..."

"See, it's not hard to say my name, is it?" She changed the subject.

If she was going to avoid him so, she must not want his attentions, he decided. "No, it's not. Never mind, Elphaba. I'll go." He turned around.

Blushing a deep green, she said, "No, wait."

"Yes?"

"I... Oh, you must be insane!"

"What?"

"You don't _like_ me. You can't. What sort of silly trick are you playing?"

"Do you really think this is a trick?"

"Well, you've got to be out of your mind if it isn't!" Elphaba aruged.

He took a deep breath. "This isn't some trick."

"Well, then we'd better take your temperature or something, because if you think you like _me_, you've got to be crazy." Elphaba retorted.

Feeling rejected, he headed towards the door. "Well, since my feelings obviously aren't returned, I don't know what I was thinking when I came in here. Maybe I am crazy."

"Fiyero, it's not that I don't like you..."

He whirled around. "What?"

"Oops." Elphaba glared at him, angry that he'd caused her to make a mistake. She was sitting on the bed again, and jumped when he sat himself next to her. "Maybe you should go..."

"I don't want to." He said quietly.

"I don't want you to, really." She admitted.

"This is..."

"Awkward? Just a little." Elphaba smiled.

"Well, things might be that way for a bit." Fiyero replied.

"We can't tell anyone." Elphaba warned.

"Tell anyone what?"

"That we... like each other." She shook her head suddenly. "Fiyero, aren't you engaged to be married?"

He looked at her and answered honestly. "Sort of."

"We can't like each other." She decided.

"We can, though."

"No." She said firmly.

"But what if I can change all of that?"

"How?" She asked, her eyes betraying her hopefulness.

"Didn't I tell you my sister got out of it? The only reason there are so many arranged marriages in the Vinkus is because we barely meet anyone there, so nothing makes us even care for anyone else. Most just agree to it because it's convienent and they feel they might never marry otherwise. If I were to simply refuse..."

"You should follow tradition." She said somberly.

"I don't want to follow some stupid tradition."

"Just because you like me and I like you doesn't mean you should go and throw the entire plan your parents made for you away."

"There's so much I won't experience if I just follow their simple rules. I love my people, but Vinkus tribes and minds are simple. I don't want a simple life."

"You seemed content with it before."

"That was before I knew you."

Obviously on edge, Elphaba stood up. "You're not thinking straight."

"I'm fine." He told her.

"You can't be."

He rolled his eyes and wondered if everything was going to be this much of a struggle with her. Standing slowly, he snuck up behind her and whispered, "I am."

He'd been so close that she'd felt his breathe on her skin and she shivered. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Startle me like that. Don't come so close without telling me."

"I'm sorry," he told her.

"You don't sound sorry."

"Are you going to turn everything I say into something else? How difficult does this have to be, Elphaba?"

"I don't know. How long is it going to be until you see that caring about me is impossible, Fiyero?"

This was going to be a very tedious relationship, he realized, but he didn't think he'd find it too trying, not if he could somehow convince her of his feelings. "Elphie, you can't just deny everything."

"I can do whatever I want. You can't tell me what to do, Fiyero," she tried to sound angry, but was, in reality, somewhat weak and even the slightest bit excited.

"Well, tell me you aren't going to just deny everything."

"I don't know what I'm going to do if you don't just leave this hotel room now!" She pointed towards the door.

He didn't move. After a long pause, he said, "Then what are you going to do?"

She sighed heavily. "I don't know."

"Will you consider being my girlfriend?" He asked shyly.

This surprised her. "Your girlfriend?"

"Well, yeah."

"I... That's not what I expected."

"What did you expect, Elphie?"

"I expected something like, 'I really hate you, this was just a trick'."

"Well, I really like you and this is not just a trick."

She grinned lightly. "Look, Glinda's going to wonder why you haven't answered her as to whether or not I would go with her."

"You're right," he said suddenly, "I'll see you tonight at the reception?"

She blushed a dark green. "I guess."

"Will you dance with me?"

"I don't dance."

"I'm going to make you."

"You can't make me do anything."

"I know." He replied, smiling, and headed out of the room.

Elphaba shook her head, surpressing a laugh as she closed the door. "What in Oz have I done?"


	8. Ceremony

During the service, both Glinda and Elphaba preoccupied themselves with fixing a small tear in Glinda's dress, refusing to look at the boys who adored them so much. They whispered conversationally and Boq and Fiyero would have done anything to sneak their noses into the conversation, but, alas, the girls would not let them in on what they were discussing.

"Elphaba, I've wanted to talk to you..."

"Shh, Glinda," Elphaba scolded, paying more attention than needed to the needle and thread as she hurriedly fixed Glinda's dress.

"No, really. I'm sorry about before."

"I already forgave you for that, so don't worry about it."

"It's just..."

"Sweet Oz, Glinda, do you ever stop talking?" Elphaba glared at her.

Glinda shrugged. "There's been more awkwardness between the four of us today than usual."

"You mean more than the normal awkwardness of Boq liking you?"

"Yes, more than that."

Elphaba flushed. "I haven't noticed anything."

"You can't tell me you haven't seen the way Fiyero has acted around you."

"What?"

"He's acted all funny. And well, he was staring at you the last time I looked."

Elphaba looked up, curious. Fiyero's eyes immediately scanned the room for something else to look at and she fought a smile. "Ow!" She jumped, having poked herself with the needle for lack of attention to her work. Blinking rapidly, she moved her face slightly closer so she could see better. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Elphie," Glinda whispered, "I think Fiyero feels the same way about you that Boq feels about me."

"That's difficult to believe."

"I know, but, really, Elphie."

"I don't think so."

"He likes you."

"As if I didn't know!" Elphaba blurted.

"What?"

"Nothing, Glinda."

"You just said..."

"I didn't say anything, dear Glinda."

"You know? Did he tell you?"

Defeated, Elphaba said, "Yes, he did. Are you happy now?"

"Oh, Elphie, that's so cute. He's a good-looking boy, in a barbaric sort of way."

Elphaba found this horrifying and purposely pricked Glinda with the sewing needle.

"Oh! Elphaba, you're going to stain my dress!"

"What, with blood?"

"Yes! It's yellow, you know; not black like that hideous thing you chose."

"Chose? I had nothing else. And unlike you, Glinda, I am not made of money. I couldn't just go buy another dress. Besides, I like black. It's... slimming."

"I don't think _you_ need slimming, Elphie."

Neither of them could deny the truth of this statement. Elphaba just ignored it and went back to her concentration on Glinda's dress.

"Elphaba, do you like Fiyero?" Glinda whispered excitedly.

"What kind of question is that? Do I seem like I like Fiyero?" Elphaba asked, more worried that she was obvious than worried that the blonde girl would find out.

"Honestly, Elphaba, I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"Well, you never show emotions, Elphie. But sometimes the way you look at him has me wondering."

"The way I look at him?"

"You get this glaze over your eyes and you seem like you want something so badly and just can't have it. Of course, it would seem, you can have it."

"Maybe Fiyero is not what I want."

"Then what do you want?"

"To be left alone." Elphaba tied the thread and placed the needle back in her emergency sewing case.

"Elphie..." Glinda whined.

"What?" She was aggravated.

"Tell me. When did he say he liked you?"

"A little while ago," Elphaba replied, _depending on what your version of "a little while" is,_ she thought.

"And what did you say back?"

"I told him he was crazy."

"Oh, Elphie, you didn't!" Glinda gasped in horror at Elphaba's actions.

"I did."

"And then what?"

"What do you mean: and then what? He denied it, of course, but I refused to let him go around having such insane thoughts."

"Did he ask you out?"

"No."

Glinda seemed to be thinking for a long while, as if there was nothing else he could have done. "Did he leave?"

Elphaba snorted and replied, "He refused to leave until I'd said something further than just telling him he was insane."

"And what did you say?"

"I told him that he was engaged to be married and that he couldn't like me even if he was thinking sanely."

"That's true," Glinda realized. "What did he say then?"

"Oh, you know, claimed he could get out of it..."

Glinda suddenly began paying attnetion to the ceremony, or so it seemed. "Well, he can."

"What do you know?" Elphaba snapped.

"His sister did. Look."

The man Fiyero's elder sister was marrying was not Arjiki, nor even from the Vinkus, this was true. Elphaba sighed. "Your point?"

"If she can, so can he. And he didn't take such refusal for an answer, did he?"

"Nope."

"What happened then?"

"We just kind of sat there."

"No, really?"

Church bells rang and the ceremony ended. Elphaba stood and looked from Boq to Fiyero to Glinda, "Really. Let's go, Glinda."


	9. Dancing

**A/N: Finally updating another one of these, so I hope you're happy! (I can hear WICKED playing in my head, "I hope you're happy, I hope you're happy now! I hope you're happy how you've hurt your cause forever…") Anyway, I'm sorry I've taken so long. I do hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Chapter Nine: Dancing**

Elphaba was finding the reception increasingly boring and had decided to look for Glinda and see if they could walk (though it was more than a mile away) back to the hotel without the boys when Fiyero tapped her on the shoulder. "What?"

"Dance with me." He teased.

"No way."

He sighed and laughed at her. "I'm going to get you to dance with me by the end of the night, Miss Elphaba." Fiyero threatened.

"In your dreams." Elphaba responded. "Besides, I'm about to find Miss Glinda and hopefully, she and I can get out of here..."

"What's going on?" Glinda joined them at the moment.

"Ah, Glinda, just who I was looking for. Would you care to walk back to the hotel with me? This reception is so tedious." Elphaba put on a mock formal voice.

"In these shoes?" Glinda gestured to her heels. "Never. Unless the boys want to call the cab early and leave," at this, Glinda looked to Fiyero.

Fiyero shook his head. "I have to stay until it's over."

Elphaba groaned.

"I wouldn't leave anyway. Not until I get you on that dance floor." He walked away.

Elphaba stood, glaring in his direction. "Bastard."

"Oh, Elphie, you don't really mean that, do you?"

"I don't even know." Elphaba looked helplessly at Glinda. "But I do know I will not dance."

"That doesn't surprise me at all." Commented Glinda.

"Let's sit down," Elphaba suggested.

"Yes, let's. I don't want to stand any longer in these shoes! They're dreadful," Glinda confided.

Examining the blonde's shoes, she nodded in agreement. "What'd you wear them for, anyway?"

"They look pretty."

"Why do you care what looks pretty when you'll never see anyone that you'll meet here again?"

"That's not true. I'll see you, Boq and Fiyero again."

"Since when has once of us mattered?"

Glinda's cheeks reddened and Elphaba gasped. Hurriedly, Glinda said, "None of you matter. But I could run into someone or something…"

"I knew it!" Elphaba accused without stating the direct accusation.

"I don't!" Glinda replied, knowing Elphaba's assumption without being told.

"You do," Elphaba stated simply.

"Do not."

"This is pointless," she observed. "We don't need to have this conversation if you aren't going to just admit that you like Boq."

"I don't like him, so I won't admit it," Glinda said stubbornly.

Boq slid into a seat next to them at the moment. "Hello, ladies."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Hi, Boq."

"How are you, Miss Elphaba?"

"Incredibly bored. And you?"

They were quieted then because the lights dimmed and the royal couple began to dance. Fiyero's parents took the floor as well. Next it was Fiyero's turn.

Knowing what was coming, Elphaba shrunk back in her seat, "Don't." She whispered to herself.

As everyone looked on, Fiyero turned towards where Elphaba was sitting and held his hand out to her.

She blinked in surprise. Standing, she almost walked towards him and then shook her head violently. "No." With that, she left the reception and walked back to the hotel in the dark, alone.

Fiyero, Boq and Glinda had arrived back at the hotel before she had, having hired a carriage to take them. Glinda had keen ears and heard Elphaba arrive. In a moment, she was at the door.

"What do you want?" Elphaba asked, thinking the visitor who had knocked on her door was Fiyero.

"Elphie, what did you think you were doing? Did you even consider Fiyero's feelings?"

"I..."

"Did you see his face?"

"Do you think I wanted to?"

"Well, you should've. You broke his heart, Elphaba."

"He'll get over it."

"You humiliated him."

"He'll get over it," she repeated.

"That's not my point."

"Glinda, leave." Elphaba sighed.

"Elphie..."

"Leave!" She demanded.

Glinda sauntered out the door, waving Fiyero towards it.

"Oh, sweet Oz, what a night," Elphaba muttered to herself.

"Elphaba..." Fiyero began.

"Don't." Elphaba moved to close the door in his face.

He struggled against her. "Please, let me talk to you."

"Why do you want to talk to me? I embarrassed you!" She walked across the room to look away from him and out the window.

"Well," he acknowledged, "I am a bit hurt by your actions, Miss Elphaba, but I think you owe me a discussion in return."

"Go." She said harshly.

Embarrassed not only in front of his family, his friends, but now feeling embarrassed to be in front of Elphaba, he shrank towards the door. "I'm sorry."

"I should be sorry. I humiliated you."

"That doesn't matter to me."

"How could you have just expected me to dance with you, Fiyero? What in Oz were you thinking? I told you I wouldn't and I didn't."

Fiyero looked at the ground. "Would you dance with me now, perhaps?" He asked shyly.

Elphaba turned around and stared at the humbled prince standing across the room from her. "What?"

"Dance with me now. No one's watching. No one even has to know you gave in except me and you."

She blinked. "I don't think I can..."

"Please?" He begged.

"I don't know."

"Pretty please?"

"Flattery won't work with me."

"What will work with you?" He tried.

"Honesty."

"I want you to dance with me, Elphaba."

"I think you're crazy, Fiyero."

"Well, would you dance with this crazy man?"

Gulping, she took a step forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe."

He had not expected anything more than rejection from her and her hesitance to refuse him shocked him. Quickly, he placed his hands on her waist. "Too late to say no now, Elphie."

"It's _Elphaba_."

And so they danced.


	10. Stubborn

**AN: For some reason, this has been easiest to update. I promise a new chapter of "If I'd Known" soon enough. The others are a bit stuck, but they should be moving along any day now… I hope.**

**Chapter Ten: Stubborn**

"It's a long way back," Boq commented, trying with difficulty to break the awkward silence in the carriage that had been there for what seemed like longer than the three hours since they'd started out.

"Yes, it is." Glinda agreed, glaring at Elphaba, who was sitting next to Fiyero rather than her. She resented having to sit next to Boq.

"Glinda…" Elphaba began. "You can deal with it."

"No I can't!"

"I'll sit next to you for the ride tomorrow."

"I don't think so. You'll choose him again. I wouldn't let you sit next to me tomorrow if you wanted to!" Her face reddened when she thought she caught Boq trying to smile discreetly. "I can't believe you sometimes, Elphie."

Elphaba opened her mouth to speak, though found no words to defend herself with.

Boq pouted, offended that Glinda did not wish to sit next to him. "I frankly don't mind."

Both girls glared at him.

"Sorry." He said meekly.

Elphaba sighed and sat back, staring idly out the window. "This is going to be a _long_ ride."

Fiyero was smiling lightly, glad Elphaba had chosen to sit next to him. However, there were times when he wished to reach over and touch her face or shoulders and he knew he could not. She had never directly answered his proposition as to whether or not she would be his girlfriend, and so he kept his distance. "It might be. It might not be." He tried for hopefulness.

She returned his smile gratefully, though her words stayed negative. "It'll take nothing short of a miracle to keep this ride from being incredibly boring." Partly she wished she'd just sat next to Glinda. Her rashness and out-of-character actions had caused more commotion than she'd thought and she regretted not thinking twice when she had stepped into the carriage second, just after Fiyero.

Glinda spoke up, "You're right about that because I refuse to speak with you."

Elphaba sat up straight, "Glinda, don't be ridiculous!"

"I'm not being ridiculous. I'm being perfectly reasonable."

"You're never reasonable." Retorted Elphaba.

"Am too!"

"Are not."

"Am too!"

"Girls!" Boq put a hand on Glinda's shoulder, removing it quickly when she looked at him angrily. "Oops."

"Nice one, Boq." Elphaba commented.

Glinda's eyes narrowed at him and Boq's cheeks reddened. "I didn't mean to…"

"We know, Boq." Elphaba grinned, enjoying the tension. It looked like she'd get some sort of entertainment after all.

Late that night, when they'd stopped at a hotel (once again with one room and two beds) for rest, as Boq and Glinda slept, Fiyero decided to have a whispered conversation with Elphaba. "So?" He approached her as she sat, staring out the window at the dark sky. She'd been awake all night, as had he, for they'd both slept more during the carriage ride.

She twitched a little because she hadn't expected him to once again be awake. "So what?"

"So, will you be my girlfriend?" Though he was speaking in a whisper, he became considerably quieter when asking her this.

"Are you rushing me?" She tried to tease.

"No. I…"

"I know. I never really acknowledged your question much before, aside from repeating it and then ignoring it."

He nodded. "Well?"

"Well, I don't know." She answered honestly. "I'm not really 'girlfriend' material."

Fiyero shrugged. "That doesn't matter."

"Doesn't it?"

He shook his head. "Not at all."

"How can I be your 'girlfriend' when I don't even know how?"

Her admission of her lack of knowledge on this subject seemed odd to him. For some reason, she'd seemed to know everything, though it would only make sense that she knew nothing about this sort of relationship, for he got the feeling she'd been alone most of her life in that particular way. "There is no proper way to be in a relationship. We can figure things out as we go," he offered.

"I really just don't know, Fiyero. I've never really been in a relationship and maybe now isn't the time for me to be."

"Please?" He begged.

She raised her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because I want you to be my girlfriend. Why else?"

"Because you're crazy."

"You've told me that at least once already."

"And I'll tell you a thousand times."

"It won't change my mindset."

"You're stubborn, aren't you?" She asked, surprised.

"Just as stubborn as you are, in a way." He admitted.

"You don't seem like you're very stubborn," she observed.

"Well, I'm only stubborn with things I care about."

She was quiet.

"I mean it, Elphaba."

"Thanks."

He knew she wasn't one to thank a person for their admission of caring. "Huh?"

"For saying my full name instead of that pathetic little nickname."

"I do care about you. I want you to know that."

"And I want you to know that I will never, ever understand why."

He laughed. "Well, maybe you don't need to. As long as you can return those feelings…"

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Fiyero…" With a sigh, she cut herself off.

"What?" He prodded.

"I'm not… a caring person. I never have been. I don't want you to expect me to be someone I'm not."

"I don't."

"Then what do you expect?"

"I'm not sure. I figure you'll surprise me. You always do."

"Is that such a good thing?"

"Most of the time."

Gracing him with a smile that he saw even through the darkness, she said, "I guess that's all right, then."

"So, will you?"

"Fiyero, don't."

"No, I want to know."

"You're pushing it."

"Sometimes I think you need to be pushed, Elphaba."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."

"Will you?"

She shook her head, but not to indicate a negative answer, but to express how incredulous she felt that she was saying a positive one. "Yes."


	11. Winter Wonderland?

**AN: This is so easy to update recently. I'm sorry for not updating other things, but those chapters are precious pages away from being finished. For now, I hope you guys enjoy this…**

**Chapter Eleven: Winter Wonderland?**

It was snowing when they returned to Shiz, and it was snowing with force. It was as if snow had been determined to cover every hint or suggestion of color and paint Oz white.

"You know, Elphie," Boq commented, "you look even more out of place against such a backdrop of pure, white snow than you did against trees and things, when the seasons are more… green." He didn't mention that Fiyero, too, looked out of place. Only Boq and Glinda truly looked in place against white, of course.

Elphaba glared at Boq as they waited for the carriage driver to unload their luggage. "Good to know," she said, voice laden with sarcasm.

Glinda stared helplessly at her three bags as everyone else gathered their things and began heading in the direction of the dorms. "Oh dear," she sighed, "my Ama's still on vacation and I can't possibly carry more than one bag at a time."

Elphaba, who had brought only one bag, said, "I can carry two at a time, but I've got to take my own, too."

Boq opened his mouth, but then realized he'd brought two bags and could be of no hope whatsoever.

Fiyero looked at his singular bag and then looked back at the girls. "I'll take Elphaba's and she can take both of Glinda's," he offered.

"Why don't we each just take one of hers?" Elphaba suggested.

"Because your bag is much heavier than both of mine combined and he's trying to be a gentlemen," Glinda chided at Elphaba, "so let him."

Elphaba rolled her eyes but surrendered her bag to Fiyero, reluctantly, and picked up Glinda's two extra bags. The four of them headed towards the dormitories, all except Glinda carried two bags.

When they reached the girls' dorms, Fiyero, Glinda and Elphaba headed inside, while Boq, disappointed at having lost the opportunity to get a visual of the place his beloved Glinda slept and lived, trudged back to the boys' dorms, waving a pathetic and pitiful goodbye.

Glinda and Elphaba's dorm was on the third floor, and Glinda was breathing somewhat heavily when they reached the doorway, though Fiyero and Elphaba were perfectly fine respiratory-wise. Elphaba set Glinda's things down, took her suitcase from Fiyero, and placed it on her bed. Not quite sure what to say, she tried, "Would you like to stay here and warm up a bit before heading back to your dorm in the cold? We have a stove; I can warm you up some hot chocolate."

Fiyero smiled a smile that warmed Elphaba's freezing form inside and out. "Sure. Thank you."

"It's no problem." Elphaba shrugged and began to mix hot chocolate.

Glinda began unpacking, and Fiyero was not surprised to see that the three suitcases were full of clothing, though they barely made a dent in Glinda's large wardrobe. After accidentally catching a glimpse of the blonde's bright pink underwear, he blinked and turned to Elphaba. "Long ride," he mumbled in her direction.

She nodded in agreement, "yes."

"It was too long," Glinda piped in, still giving Elphaba the occasional glare (she was starting to simmer down, for she couldn't hold a grudge for long, but hadn't fully calmed just yet). "It was very long, especially when I had to sit next to Boq the _whole time_."

"That was your own choice, not mine." Elphaba reminded her. "You refused to sit next to me."

"Did someone just say something?" Glinda turned to Fiyero. "Would you please tell Elphie that I am still angry with her?"

Fiyero laughed and said to Elphaba, "Glinda's still - "

"I noticed." Elphaba cut him off, waving her hands. She carefully poured both Fiyero and herself some hot chocolate and sat down at the small table in the middle of the room. "Would you please tell Glinda that she could at least try and speak to me rather than speaking through you."

"But being angry is more fun this way!" Glinda protested.

"Did you just speak to me?" Elphaba asked.

"Aw, damn!"

Both Fiyero and Elphaba raised their eyebrows and Glinda's language.

"I mean… Oh, forget it!" Glinda stood up and stomped over to her bed, folding her arms and plopping down on it.

"That doesn't separate you from us, you know," Elphaba informed her.

"Whatever." Glinda said stubbornly.

Elphaba shook her head and smiled across the table at Fiyero. "How are you feeling?"

"Warm." He answered.

"Good."

"What did you think of the wedding?"

"It was okay. Well, until you went and thought you could get me to dance."

"I _did_ get you to dance."

"Shhh," Elphaba seemed embarrassed for Glinda, who was pointedly not paying any attention to them, to know that she had succumbed to Fiyero after all.

"Why?"

"Well, why tell everyone?"

"Because you'll never live it down."

"And I won't be your girlfriend if you ever say a word," Elphaba threatened.

Fiyero backed off. "All right, all right. Whatever you say."

Elphaba realized that she was going to be in charge of this relationship if she decided to be. Knowing that, in a typical relationship, the male would be at least somewhat in charge, she contradicted herself, "Well, I guess you could tell one or two people, if you want."

Fiyero seemed to brighten at this prospect.

"But _not_ that many, okay? I don't ever want to hear about it again!" She clarified.

He nodded understandingly, "Sure."

She stood. "Maybe you should get going, now. I'll walk you downstairs."

Fiyero grabbed his bag, which he'd left in the doorway, and headed down the stairs. He paused at the doorway. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Well, since classes don't start up again until next week and I have a very small social life, I'm not doing anything tomorrow."

"Would you like to, maybe, have a picnic with me over by suicide canal?"

She stared at her feet for a moment. After a long pause, she looked up at him, "Okay."

"Great." He moved to open the door. "It's stuck."

Elphaba reached to help him. Together, they pushed the door partially open. "Oh, shit." She said, as the door persistently shut itself again. "It's not stuck. It's the wind."

"How am I supposed to get out of here?"

"Well, you have a change of clothes," she gestured to his bag simply, now refusing to look him in the eye. "You'll just have to sleep in our dorm."


	12. Blankets

Chapter Twelve: Blankets 

When they came back up the stairs, Glinda looked up from her wardrobe, "Elphie, you know, I'm sorry about… what are you still doing here?" She raised her eyebrows at Fiyero.

"It was snowing too hard," Elphaba explained, gesturing towards the window.

"We tried opening the door and we couldn't even get it further than an inch." Fiyero added, placing his bag on a chair and hugging himself with a shiver.

"How are you going to get back to your dorm?" Glinda asked.

"He's not," Elphaba stated. "He couldn't possibly make it, even if we managed to open the door."

"What do you mean?"

"He's going to have to stay here." Elphaba kept her face blank as she said this.

"How?"

"What do you mean, how?" Elphaba laughed. "Somehow. We'll have to manage. Not everyone's back. It's not like he'll get caught in here."

"But he's a boy!" Glinda exclaimed.

"Gee, Glinda, we didn't know that." Fiyero said.

"What in Oz are we going to do?" Glinda wondered.

"I'll sleep on the floor." Fiyero offered.

"It's not going to be much of a problem," Elphaba waved Glinda's questions away.

"But… I need to change for bed. How can I change for bed?"

"Glinda, we have a bathroom."

"Oh, yeah."

Elphaba snorted despite herself as Glinda grabbed a nightgown and headed into the bathroom. Looking away, her gaze wandered to Fiyero. "If you want to try going outside again…"

"No," he held his hands up, "that's all right, thank you very much."

"It's late. I guess we'll all have to take turns with the bathroom."

After everyone was changed for bed, Glinda climbed into her bed, beneath her white, ruffled blankets. "Goodnight, you two."

"Goodnight, Glinda," Elphaba said, staring out the window, not quite ready to go to sleep.

"Goodnight." Fiyero mumbled.

In moments, the blonde girl fell asleep, without another thought (if she'd ever had any to begin with). Fiyero and Elphaba sat in silence until Elphaba shuddered. "Sweet Oz, it's cold. You'd think that even though the staff isn't around, the heating would still be on."

"I guess not." Fiyero replied.

"Do you need an extra blanket?" Elphaba held up her only blanket, meager and thin.

"I'll be fine."

"You'll freeze."

"So will you."

Feeling out of character, Elphaba moved over in her bed. "This is going to sound crazy, but maybe it's best if you…"

Fiyero understood, but was as uncomfortable with the idea as Elphaba seemed to be. "If I what?"

"Well, slept next to me, I guess…"

They were both silent. Each of them stared their separate directions and Elphaba began to hum to herself and kick her feet as she sat on the side of the bed. After a long pause, Fiyero whispered, "I'd like to, in a way, but wouldn't it be a bit uncomfortable for you?"

"Wouldn't it be a bit uncomfortable for you to sleep on the floor blanket-less?" She retaliated.

"Well, yes, but…" He stood.

"I don't bite. It's a big bed." She tried to make the situation simple, though they both knew that, to either one of them, it certainly was not.

"I…" He moved towards the bed.

"What?"

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"Which would make you more uncomfortable, sleeping next to me or sleeping and freezing yourself silly on the floor?"

"Freezing," he decided, and sat beside her on the bed. Neither one of them moved to lie down, though.

"Um, okay. Well, goodnight, then." She tried, still unable to move.

"Goodnight." He did not move, either.

Elphaba forced herself to move the slightest bit and lie down, squishing herself against the wall next to her bed to leave room for Fiyero. Scrunching herself into a ball, she fiddled uncomfortably with the blanket.

"Do you need more room?" He asked as he laid down.

"No, I'm fine." She whispered, barely able to speak. How could it be, that this strange but beautiful boy was right next to her in her bed? Of course, this was not the circumstances she'd have preferred, but she wasn't sure what she'd have preferred in their current situation anyway. "Sweet dreams," she murmured.

"You, too." He said.

Closing her eyes, slightly comforted and slightly put off by his presence next to her, she fell asleep in no time.

She woke up to a very uncomfortable pressure in her gut. "Ow!"

Glinda had been poking her. "Elphie…"

"Glinda, how many times to I have to tell you…?" She sat up, then realized Fiyero was still asleep and began to lower her voice.

"Fiyero's in your bed." Glinda said, horrified.

"Nothing happened."

"Well, of course not, knowing you. But what is he doing in your bed?"

"I didn't have an extra blanket."

"You could've just asked me."

Elphaba blinked. "What?"

"I have one on the top shelf in my closet. If you'd have just woken me up, I would've gotten it for you."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course."

Elphaba was unable, however, to decide if she'd have rather let Fiyero sleep on the floor than in her bed. What scared her the most was the fact that, in the back of her mind, she knew about the blanket in the closet. Both she and Fiyero had glimpsed it the night before.


	13. Loved

**Chapter Thirteen: Loved**

Dr. Nikidik assigned a project during life sciences their first week back from the winter holidays, "destroying all weekend plans", as Avaric muttered.

Clapping his hands together at the end of the lecture (alarming the students, the majority of whom had fallen asleep during his mumblings), he said, "I want you all to go out and learn something for yourselves. That's why I'm assigning a project -"

The students groaned.

Dr. Nikidik continued, "Choose a life sciences subject of your choice…"

"Yes!" Elphaba exclaimed.

"And, with or without a partner, starting next week, you will teach the class a thirty-minute lesson on it in an undetermined order. Obviously, it's due next week. Class dismissed."

"Elphaba!" Fiyero made his way towards Elphaba before she could leave class.

Boq saw his intention and immediately said, "No way, Fiyero, she's working with me."

"Did she say that herself?" Fiyero challenged.

"Uh, not yet… Elphie?"

She laughed. "Never in my life have I left so loved."

"Well, it's because you're really good at this life sciences thing. _I _need you." Boq said.

"I'd like to work with you, Elphaba, just because I enjoy spending time with you. _I _wouldn't use you like Boq." Fiyero said, touching her arm.

Momentarily stunned by the Arjiki boy's touch, she almost stumbled down the stairs fo the building where the lecture had been held. "Oops."

Fiyero, being a gentleman, caught her easily. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She blinked slowly, noting that he'd stolen the opportunity to put an arm around her, if only for a moment. She shuddered a little when he let go.

"See? I'm thoughtful. _I'm_ the one you should work with."

Boq glared at him.

"As much as I'd love to see you two fight over me," Elphaba chided gently, "I'd rather work by myself. You two could work together, though." Grinning, she walked off, leaving Fiyero and Boq gaping behind her.

"Seriously," Boq commented, "you'd think she'd take the chance to have a social life. For once, people actually wanted to work with her, even if it was only for her brains."

"Maybe _you_ only wanted to work with her for her brains." Fiyero disagreed.

"Fiyero, man, she's gone, we both lost, you can stop pretending."

"I wasn't pretending!"

Boq held up his hands, "All right, all right."

"I really do like being around her."

"Is there something going on between you two? I mean, at the reception…"

Fiyero nodded, flushing slightly.

"So, are you two, like, boyfriend and girlfriend, or what?"

"Yup." Fiyero shrugged.

"But she wouldn't dance…"

"She's just that way." Fiyero sighed.

"Well," Boq shrugged, as well. "Want to go back to my dorm and get this ridiculous project started?"

Fiyero followed Boq to his dorm. "What do you want to do the project on?"

"I'm not sure," Boq said, flipping through his textbook. "I'll bet you I know what Elphaba's going to do."

"Something about Animals?"

"Of course. Something about the difference and how they're just as good as humans. It wouldn't surprise me at all. It does kind of suck that she wouldn't work with anyone. I don't know about you, but I could've used those brains."

"Me, too. I could've used to the time with her, really."

"Don't you guys go out?"

"Well, not really. We've only been 'dating' for a week or so now."

"Tell me you're going out this weekend."

"We were supposed to go for a picnic, but I realized how much colder it is out here."

"It's warming up."

"Not enough for a picnic."

"Wait a week or two."

"I can't. I want to spend as much time with her as possible."

"You really like her, don't you?"

Fiyero nodded vigorously.

"Whoa. I never though anyone could ever like Elphaba like that."

Fiyero raised his eyebrows. "Why not?"

"It's Elphaba, of all people."

Fiyero laughed. "I don't know. There's just something about…"

"Something about her? That's how I feel about Miss Glinda sometimes."

"I will never understand that infatuation."

"No one does. I don't, even. She's so beautiful."

"Have you told her that?"

"She's not one to take a compliment from me very well. And, about Elphaba, it certainly can't be her looks that you like…"

Fiyero glared at Boq. "What makes you think that? I think she's attractive in her own way."

"Okay, okay, whatever you say. What do you like about her?"

"I hate being quizzed like this." Fiyero said pointedly.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. What should we do?"

"I have no idea."

"Hmmm. We could always do Animals versus animals."

"Elphie would kill us."

Chuckling, he agreed, "Yes, she would."

"This is going to be one difficult project to do without her."

"You never realize how much you depend on her until she's gone."

"That's for sure," Boq assented. "Back to work."

"What should we do?"

"Magicked antlers…"


	14. The Date

**Chapter Fourteen: The Date**

It did warm up, and quite quickly, the way Boq had predicted. Before long, Elphaba and Fiyero were picnicking for their first "date".

Glinda practically followed Elphaba out the door. "Oh, Elphie, your first date! Are you sure I can't come along just to make sure you don't do something stupid?"

"Glinda, I think the point of a date is so that Fiyero and I have some time _alone_." Elphaba hurriedly shut the door and walked down the stairs, nervous in her own way. Seeing Fiyero, she smiled shyly. "Hey."

"Hi." He said quietly. "Ready?" He held up the basket. "I made lunch…"

Elphaba brought a basket out from behind her back. "So did I…"

"Well, good. We won't be short of food, that's for sure."

"So," she said, as they began to walk.

"So."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I."

Fiyero rolled his eyes. "I think of all these things I want to say to you, and now they've just all… flown away. Elphie?"

"Don't call me that!"

"Sorry." He said sheepishly.

Feeling bad, she threw him a smile. "It's all right."

He was relieved. "Good. I wouldn't want to make you angry, Elphaba."

"I'd hope not." After a small pause, she said, "So, what are you and Boq doing for the life sciences project?"

"How inanimate objects become animate," Fiyero answered, pleased that she had asked. "Like those antlers."

She laughed. "It never struck me that you two would end up doing something like that. I'll be you can guess what I'm doing, can't you?"

"Yes. I'd assume you're doing something on animals and Animals and such? Am I right?"

"How'd you ever guess?" She teased.

"Well, it was difficult." He grinned when she laughed, as well. "Here we are." Carefully, he laid out a blanket across the grass of the park where they'd decided to picnic. "After you," he gestured for her to sit down.

She looked around. The grass, brown only weeks before, had become greener recently, and she found it humorous how close it came, at times, to the color of her skin. "Everything's so new looking," she commented.

"It's nice."

"Beautiful."

Bravely, he said, "Kind of like you."

She flushed a forest green a looked away. "Anyway, back to what we were saying…"

Fiyero sighed, but went along with her for his own safety. "Yes. What were we saying?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"That could be a problem," he told her.

"It could. Or we could just talk about something else." She suggested.

"We could. Or we could eat."

"That would be a good idea," she acknowledged, beginning to rummage through her basket. "I didn't know what you like, so I made peanut butter and jelly." She held out a sandwich

Fiyero snorted, which threw Elphaba off until he pulled a similar sandwich out of his things. "I didn't know what you'd like, either."

They both laughed, and the tension began to disappear. Relaxing somewhat, Elphaba brushed her hair behind her ears and accepted the sandwich Fiyero had offered her as he accepted what she had. "Thanks, I think."

He nodded lightly and took a bite into the sandwich she'd given him. "This is good." He tried to compliment her.

"It's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Fiyero. It doesn't take much skill." She raised her eyebrows.

He shrugged, realizing his mistake. "Well, it's still good."

She giggled. "Whatever you say."

"Boq didn't know," Fiyero said after a moment.

"Didn't know what?"

"About us."

"Us?"

"You know, that we're dating."

"And you told him?"

"Are you mad?"

"No, of course not." Elphaba said. "I don't get mad over everything. Don't be so afraid of me, Fiyero."

"If I was afraid of you, would I be here?"

"I don't know, but you certainly seem to act like you're stepping on eggshells. You don't have to. You shouldn't have to."

"I know that," he assured her, "really."

"Good."

"He finds it amusing."

"What? Boq?"

"Yeah."

Elphaba shrugged. "Well, he would. He finds everything I do amusing." She finished her sandwich and wiped her hands on a napkin.

Fiyero realized that they'd planned nothing more to do. He wanted to spend more time with her, so he desperately slipped his hand over hers across the blanket. "Elphaba, I really like you."

"Okay." She shivered. His touched had both alarmed and pleased her. "I really like you, too."

He didn't know what he'd wanted to hear, but that had been near enough. He smiled vibrantly at her. "I'm glad we went out today. Even if it was kind of short…"

"It doesn't have to be," Elphaba found herself saying, nervously slipping her hand out of his. "I mean, if you want to do something else, we can."

This brightened his mood, though her taking her hand had given him a somewhat rejected feeling. "Let's take a walk." Bracing himself for rejection, he held out his hand for her to take after gathering his things.

She looked up at him and paused for the slightest moment. "Yes." With that, she took his hand and walked with him.


	15. Glinda's Views on Kissing

**Chapter Fifteen: Glinda's Views On Kissing**

Glinda was surprised when, the next time she saw Fiyero and Elphaba together, Elphaba seemed to be allowing Fiyero to keep his arm around her shoulders. Her raised eyebrows got none of Elphaba's attention. All of Elphie's attention seemed to be on Fiyero.

"Elphie!"

"What?" Elphaba looked up from a long, loving glance between she and Fiyero and looked at Glinda with so much irritability Glinda was ready to back off.

"Uh…"

"What is it, your Ditziness?"

"That wasn't funny!"

"Whatever. Did you want something?"

"Yes." Glinda said bravely. "I wanted you to stop staring at your beloved boyfriend and pay attention to me!"

"I can't always pay attention to you, Glinda!"

They were sitting in the dorm room she and Glinda shared. Elphaba and Fiyero sat chastely on Elphaba's bed, cuddling. Glinda stood across from the bed with her hands on her hips and her curls in her face.

Fiyero stood up and looked apologetically at Elphaba. "Maybe I should go…"

"No you should not." Elphaba grabbed his arm, resentful, and pulled him back towards the bed. "Just because my silly roommate has a problem doesn't mean you have to leave."

"I don't have a problem with you two. I just don't understand, Elphie."

"Understand what?"

"What happened! I mean, one day you're barely ready to go on a date and now here the two of you are, cuddling in our dorm room. It just surprises me, that's all."

Elphaba pulled away from Fiyero, who had sat right back down and taken her into his arms the moment she had given him permission. "Look, Glinda, if this makes you uncomfortable, we can go somewhere else. Fiyero, don't you have your own dorm?"

Fiyero nodded.

"You don't have to go somewhere else, Elphie. This is your dorm, too and you're welcome here with whomever you want, even if it's a little tough on me. I don't understand the way you're acting, Elphie. Explain why you're acting like this and I can get over it."

"Okay. Fiyero and I like each other. Is it much harder than that?" Elphaba exchanged confused glances with Fiyero, who shrugged and sat back on the bed as Elphaba moved to comfort Glinda.

"But you've liked Fiyero for a while, and he's liked you, that doesn't mean you act like this. I'd never expect you to act like this."

Elphaba was now face to face, only inches apart, from her roommate and struggling terribly to understand her predicament. "I really, really like him, I guess." She was not angry, of course. Glinda seemed to be the angry one.

"But you don't normally act like this!" Elphaba realized now that Glinda was not angry, only desperate to understand and more than a little frustrated.

"Things change." Elphaba tried, exasperated.

"But people don't. People don't change as quickly as you did."

"I really like Fiyero, Glinda, if that's changing me, than so be it."

Glinda sighed. "As you were."

"What are you, an army commander?" Elphaba laughed heading back towards her bed and into Fiyero's arms.

"Not at all," Glinda said, getting up and leaving the room.

"Glinda don't…"

"Elphaba, let her. I think she needs some time away from us."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe she's jealous," Fiyero murmured, kissing Elphaba's forehead.

She twitched. "Don't do that. You scared me."

"Sorry," he looked offended and hurt.

"Don't be. Please don't be." Elphaba looked at Fiyero sadly. "It's just… too much right now."

Fiyero rolled his eyes, but smiled gently at Elphaba. This was going to be one slow-moving relationship. But he'd wait forever for her, he decided.

"I wonder…" Elphaba said aloud, and covered her mouth, as if she hadn't meant to speak.

"What?"

She blushed. "Nothing. Just a conversation I'd like to have with Glinda." Elphaba stood. "Fiyero, I don't want to…"

"Kick me out?"

"Yeah."

He moved towards the door and looked away from her. "It's okay. I know when I'm not wanted."

"Fiyero!"

He turned back. "I'm kidding, Elphaba."

"Good. I don't mean to offend you."

"I'd never let you offend me."

"That's what you think," she walked towards the door and looked up into his eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow at lunch, okay?"

"Sure." Perhaps only to spite her, he kissed her nose.

The door was closed before Elphaba could gather her wits enough to glare at the empty cardboard across from her. "Well… Be that way." She knocked on the bathroom door. "Glinda?"

"I won't bother you."

"He's gone, Glinda."

Glinda peeked out from the doorway, a blonde lock hanging stray from the ponytail she'd pulled into while in there. "He is? Why?"

"I kicked him out." Elphaba said proudly.

"Oh, Elphie, you didn't have to do that."

"I did," Elphaba admitted. "It was getting awkward."

"That happens sometimes."

"Glinda, I think he wants to kiss me." Elphaba looked at her friend helplessly. "And I don't know what to do."

"You let him kiss you, Elphaba!"

"You know these things?"

"Of course I do. I am Glinda of the Arduennas, after all!"

"I just… it's kind of nerve-racking." Elphaba conceded. "I've never kissed a boy."

"I knew that." Glinda waved her friend away. "Just let him kiss you."

"How do you know all this?"

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've never kissed a boy, either."


	16. I like it when you touch me

**Chapter Sixteen: "I like it when you touch me"**

Fiyero slid into his usual seat next to Elphaba at the café the next day and slipped an arm around her. "Hey."

She shrugged his arm off violently. "Fiyero, not here. Not in front of everyone."

"Elphie," he whispered gently, "Everyone knows."

"They do not!" Elphaba looked horrified.

"They do," he affirmed.

"How?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Well, you know I told Boq. And Glinda's told Pfanee and Shen-Shen, I see them giggle every time the see me anywhere near you."

Elphaba slammed a fist on the table. "I knew I shouldn't have told her."

"And Crope tried to hit on me, so I told him I had a girlfriend…"

"He tried to… what?" Elphaba was not sure whether to be amused or offended by this.

"It was a little scary," Fiyero admitted. "And I'm sure Crope has told Tibbett. Avaric made a rude comment about you the other day at breakfast and I told him off and he just kind of guessed that we're together."

"Well…" Elphaba searched for an excuse. "Nanny and Nessa don't know. We can't tell Nessa. She'll be horrified that I'm dating 'the pagan boy', as she calls you."

"That's just great. I'm glad my girlfriend's family approves of me," Fiyero said, having learned sarcasm from being near Elphaba so much.

Nanny had wheeled Nessa over just then and Nessa placed her plate on the table on the other side of her sister. "Fiyero, you have a girlfriend? Who? Anyone I know?"

Fiyero, stealing the opportunity, kissed Elphaba on the cheek and caught her hand as she tried to smack him for it. "Yup."

"Fiyero!" Elphaba struggled to free her hand from Fiyero's grasp to no avail. "I told you they didn't need…"

"Why didn't you tell us about this, Elphaba?" Nanny asked, eyebrows raised at the small quarrel going on across the table.

Elphaba pouted and looked down at her food. "It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Repeated both Nessa and Fiyero at the same time.

Elphaba glared at Fiyero, desperately trying to scare him into backing down. However, he knew her well enough to know better than to back down. Sighing, she then looked to Nessa. "I'm sorry."

"Is that where you've been going when you've told us you take walks?"

"Sometimes I actually take walks!" Elphaba argued.

"Only sometimes, though." Nanny pointed out.

"Is it a crime for me to have a social life, Nanny?"

"It's not a crime," Nessa relented, "but I don't understand why you couldn't have just told us instead of us having to hear it from him. No offense, Fiyero."

"'The pagan boy' is not offended." Fiyero grinned.

"Elphaba! You told him I said that?"

"I just…" Elphaba hid her face behind her hands. When Fiyero tore them away she cried, "Look what you've done! You see why I didn't want you telling them?"

"Elphaba, calm down!" Nessa exclaimed. "It's not as if we're going to hate you for it. I'd just appreciate it if you'd inform me of your goings-on."

"I don't have to report to you, or to Nanny!" Elphaba snapped.

"I think I'm going to write to your father," Nanny decided.

Fiyero watched Elphaba's face fall even more and he grabbed his food and then hers. "I think Elphaba and I will go eat outside today." Carefully, he dragged her mildly resistant form from the café and headed back towards the dormitories.

"Thank you," she mumbled half-heartedly. "I need to get away from them."

"I could tell."

"Where are we going?"

"My dorm." Fiyero answered simply.

"I've never been in your dorm." Elphaba said hesitantly. "You only come visit mine."

"Well, it's about time you came to mine, then, isn't it?"

Elphaba bit her lip. "I thought we were just going to eat outside."

"With everyone around?" Fiyero gestured at the small crowd eating lunch in the spring air around them. "Nope. I want you all to myself."

"This makes me a bit nervous," Elphaba told him.

"Good."

What could he possibly want with her alone? She shuddered, more than able to guess at a few things. But was she ready for any of them? Apprehensively, she followed Fiyero to the boys' dormitories. There was no one even watching the door, and Fiyero didn't seem to be expecting someone to be. She trudged behind him to the highest floor and tried helplessly to smile when he held the door to him room open for her. "Uh… thanks."

"You're welcome." He entered the room behind her and watched her look around.

The room was very plain. Fiyero hadn't done much decorating and he obviously must not spend much time in his dorm. The few things there were looked like feeble attempts at decorating. A portrait on the desk, an old Vinkus book on the dresser, and scarf hanging from the bed. "It must be nice not to have a roommate."

He set their food down on the desk and pulled a second chair from the corner. "Let's eat."

Elphaba nodded in agreement, relieved and thinking that perhaps maybe he really did want her in the room for nothing more than talking. "All right."

They ate in complete silence, though Elphaba felt Fiyero's eyes on her when he finished eating first. Picking up their paper bags and napkins and throwing them into the small garbage can near the door, he said quietly, "Make yourself comfortable."

To Elphaba, the word "comfortable" meant bed. However, she immediately regretted this decision when he sat next to her. She didn't know what her problem was; they'd cuddled on her bed plenty of times. Yet, this was one of the first times since they'd decided they were dating that they'd been truly alone since their first date. Looking up at him, the diamonds caught her eye and comfort finally came to her with the familiar shape. Smiling, finally, she brought her hand to his face and traced one, running along the pattern until she reached his neck. It hit her then what she was doing, and she yanked her hand away.

Fiyero grinned and caught her hand in his. "Elphie?"

"Sorry." She said quickly.

"Don't be sorry. I like it when you touch me." Fiyero then caught himself. "I mean…"

"I know what you mean," Elphaba assured him. "Because it's the same for me."

"If you like it, then," Fiyero began politely, "Is it okay if I kiss you?"

Blood rushed to Elphaba's cheeks. "You want to kiss me?"

"You're my girlfriend. Isn't that what I should do?"

"Not if you're only doing it because you think you should," Elphaba replied, looking at his eyes.

He brought his mouth to hers, bracing himself for anything, and pressed his lips against hers softly. "Well," he said, "it's a good thing I want to, then."


	17. Relief

**Chapter Seventeen: Relief**

School was almost over for the year and Elphaba was torn. Fiyero desperately wanted her to come home with him and meet his family, which Elphaba said was pointless. Fiyero pointed out that they'd been dating for six months and things were starting to get serious.

And they were serious. Several times Elphaba had found herself lying, fully clothed, on Fiyero's bed, dark cheeks and excited eyes, out of breath. Their kissing exhilarated her, teased her, and she wanted more. Truth be told, they both wanted more. Sometimes they would play and discover, in the heat of all their fevered kissing, but neither of them were daring enough to remove even a garment. Fiyero would press his hands into her clothes, she would stroke him gently at the waistline, but they could do no more. Not without something else to bond them. This went unspoken, but Elphaba knew that she and Fiyero could not have what they wanted from one another until Fiyero broke away from family tradition and married her. In her mind, Elphaba would say 'yes' to his proposal in an instant. But was six months not long enough?

Though he wasn't brave enough to tell Elphaba, Fiyero had a similar thought process in his head. When they would kiss for long periods of time, often in his dorm, Fiyero would lay Elphaba out on his bed and climb over her. The feel of her hips against his (with the exception of cloth between them) drove him mad. But he scolded himself even as he became aroused that he could not have her this way, not yet. Part of him wanted Elphaba with him for the summer, but a part of him wondered how he'd stand being around her without at least taking off one piece of clothing. Sometimes, as they kissed and touched, he'd find himself thinking: _just her shirt, I could just unbutton those buttons and…_ and he'd catch himself and often stop kissing Elphaba, to her disappointment, and pull away from her until he knew he could keep himself in control. He'd never felt something like what he felt when her hands grazed over him. They knew it was wrong, and so they held back, but it pained him more than anything.

Two days before summer break, Fiyero found himself kissing Elphaba on his bed, as he often did. All at once he pulled away, causing Elphaba to gasp for a long awaited breath and look at him curiously. "Yero my hero," she whispered hoarsely, swollen lips and everything, "What is it?"

"Elphie," he took a deep breath, "have you decided whether or not you'll be coming with me over break? You kind of need to decide."

She sat up and brushed her hair back. "Is that why you had to stop kissing me? I was really enjoying that."

"I was, too," he smiled. "Thoughts were running through my head and I figured I'd forget it if I didn't ask you now."

She sighed and crawled towards him, taking his hand. "Well, I thought I'd go home. But maybe halfway through the summer I could come. After about a month and a half. Is that okay?"

He nodded. "That's fine. I can't wait."

She kissed him fondly. "Neither can I. Now why don't you come back here and kiss me again?"

"Come to think of it," he ignored her offer, "I might need that break from you."

Elphaba looked hurt. "Why?"

"Because if we keep doing this and I have no… relief… I might go crazy."

"And how do you plan to relieve yourself when I'm not around, Yero?"

"That's not something I'm going to tell you about."

She stuck her tongue out and then said, knowingly, "Why do you need relief in the first place?"

"You know," he shrugged.

"But I don't," she teased. "How could I possibly know?"

"All this kissing and not having anything more…"

"Are you saying you want more?"

"I knew you'd do this," he scolded.

"Well, I'm just curious. Do you?"

"As much as you do," he evaded. "What I was saying is, I just want to do so much with you so badly, Elphaba, but we can't. And not being able to, it's like this buildup of…"

"That's enough!" Elphaba exclaimed, grabbing Fiyero and pulling him back onto the bed in a heated kiss. "Just forget it, okay?"

"I could forget anything, doing this."

And so Fiyero spent the first months of his summer break preparing his parents for Elphaba. "She's not what you'd expect…"

Fiyero's mother, who was sitting at the dinner table with his father, said, "What do you think we expect?"

"Someone… normal looking." Fiyero could not find any other way to say what he wanted to say. "She's not dark, but she's not light."

"Is she Quadling?"

"No. It's… well, she's a bit more different than that."

"How?"

"She's, well, she's green." Fiyero spat it out quickly.

"Green?" His father raised his eyebrows. "Are you trying to tell us you're in love with an elf?"

"No! She's normal. She's from Munchkinland. But she just happens to be green."

Fiyero's mother looked skeptical. "So you want us to approve you marrying a green person?"

"I never said we were going to get married! She's just the girl I'm interested in right now and yes, it could lead to that." Fiyero blushed.

Fiyero's father smiled. "You're in love with her."

He hadn't told Elphaba that he loved her, and she hadn't said the words to him, either. But it was, finally, days until she would arrive and he had missed so strongly that he was sure he did love her. "I guess I am," he admitted.

"Then why don't you ask her to marry you?"

"Because we've only been dating… eight months, now. I'm not ready for that, and neither is she."

"You're only a year younger than your sister, and she was married in the winter of this past year," Fiyero's mother pointed out. "Besides, we'd rather you marry early than go off and do something stupid."

"Elphaba and I aren't going to do anything stupid!" He protested.

"I don't want any bastard grandkids." Fiyero's father said.

"You won't have any." Fiyero stuttered.

"Well, I'd hope not!" Fiyero's mother agreed.

Fiyero buried his face in his hands and was suddenly not so excited for Elphaba to arrive. He dreaded seeing how his parents would behave towards her.


	18. The Naked Truth

**Chapter Eighteen: The Naked Truth**

When he saw her, he wanted to run and kiss her hard on the mouth, but knew he could not. He smiled to himself thinking he would be sure to do so in his bedroom later on. Her eyes met his then and acknowledged his desire with a flicker of her own.

"May we take your bags?" A servant interrupted the silent stare between the two.

Elphaba blinked. "Um, sure."

Fiyero stood, his parents behind him, staring with barely controllable lust at her. Finally, he went to her and hugged her close. "I've missed you," he said, afraid anything else he might say would come out with a blatant yearning hidden beneath it.

Elphaba took his hands and smiled. "I've missed you, too."

Fiyero released her and walked her towards his parents. "Mom, Dad, this is Elphaba."

Elphaba took a deep breath and stuck out her hand. "Hi."

Fiyero's mother, already having been prepared for the shock of Elphaba's skin, only smiled at said, "It's nice to meet you."

Elphaba could tell Fiyero had prepared them for her arrival. She kept a straight face and, in turn, shook Fiyero's father's hand determinedly. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"It's interesting to finally meet this girl who has been driving our son crazy for months."

_In more than one way_, Fiyero thought. "Here, I'll walk you to your room and you can get settled, okay?" He wanted to be alone with her.

His parents exchanged a worried glance, but thought it could do no harm. After all, he had assured them that he would not do anything foolish. So they allowed him to lead her up the stairs.

Alone in the guest room, Elphaba pressed herself against Fiyero, ran her hands along his shirt, and kissed him. "Yero my hero."

"Elphie," he whispered, wrapping arms around her waist.

"Oh, don't call me that! I hate it. Call me something else," she said, leading him to the bed. "Please."

"What should I call you, then?" He asked, pressing her body into the bed and sliding his hands along her gently.

"Um… anything but Elphie."

"How about Fae?"

"I like that," she murmured. He wasn't sure if she meant what he was doing or the name.

Nonetheless, he continued both. "Fae, Fae." He kissed her nose.

"Yero, I want…" She sat up.

"What?"

"I'm incredibly thirsty, and this," she wiped her mouth, "is only dehydrating me faster."

"Whatever you want, Fae." He got up, smiling at the imprint of her body on the blanket. Slowly, went into the bathroom and found a glass. Filling it with water, he looked into the mirror. His short hair was sticking up and one of the buttons on his shirt had somehow come undone. He wondered if that had been Elphaba's doing or his own. Setting the glass down, he buttoned it again and sighed, knowing neither of them could pursue what it meant. "Here you go." He handed her the water when he entered the room again. "Drink up."

"I will," she said, sipping slowly. "How has your summer been?"

"A nice relief. But I'm also very glad to be with you again."

"Me, too." Elphaba grinned at him. "But I don't think we should keep doing this, Fiyero. It's driving the both of us crazy."

"Then what do we do?"

"I don't know," she looked up awkwardly. "I just don't want to…"

"I know. But it's not so bad. Eventually, we can…"

"Not unless we're married."

"Maybe we will be, one day."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Are you trying to say something?"

"Yes, I am. Elphaba," he took both of her hands in his and stood up, pulling her so she stood, too. "This summer so far has been so long, so boring, without you. I do believe," he kissed her cheek, "that I have fallen in love with you. Fae, I love you."

She closed her eyes. "What?"

He nudged her. "Look at me. I love you."

She only shook her head. "It's not possible."

"What's not?"

"For anyone to love me."

"It is, because I do."

"Fiyero, no one has ever loved me. I've always thought that maybe I can't be loved. How can you believe that you love me?"

"Because I know what I feel every time I think about you, Fae."

"And you're sure it isn't lust?"

"It's that, too. But I love you and I know it."

She buried her face in his chest then and said something muffled. He realized she was crying. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she moved to look up at him. Smiling when he wiped her tears away, she said, "I love you, too."

By the end of Elphaba's stay, they'd developed a routine. Fiyero would wake up, wake Elphaba and they'd eat breakfast together and often picnic in the Vinkus forests. He'd show her around and teach her to recognize plants and animals. They enjoyed their time together, kissing or not. Elphaba found that she loved Fiyero in ways she couldn't have imagined telling Glinda about. Fiyero found his time with Elphaba to take up less kissing and more talking. He began to value her mind even more than he had previously.

"Fiyero!" His mother called. "Would you put more towels in the guest bedroom?"

"Can't the servants do it?" He called back from bed, lazy.

"Did you forget they're on vacation? Besides, she's your girlfriend. You might as well wake her up for breakfast."

Fiyero sighed and went to the stairs to take the towels from his mother. Wiping his eyes, he stumbled towards the guest bedroom. Knocking, he said, "Fae, I'm coming in." He opened the door.

Elphaba stood in the middle of the room, her mouth half open, staring at the door, completely naked. Oil was cupped in her palms and he realized she'd been in the middle of her cleaning ritual. "Fiyero, you idiot!"

"I… I'm sorry." Quickly, he dropped the towels in the corner and began to shut the door. He moved to say, "I'll be out here when you're ready to come down for breakfast," he told her.

"Just shut the damned door!" She snapped, face in her hands.

"Fae, don't…"

"Shut it!"

He closed the door quietly and sunk to the ground outside the door. He hadn't meant to walk in on her, and he could see she was embarrassed. The worst part was he couldn't get her naked form out of his mind. He'd imagined it so many times, but seeing her that way… he looked up when the door opened.

Elphaba stood there, fully dressed. "Wait for an answer next time," and she didn't speak about it again.


	19. Saying yes

**Chapter Nineteen: Saying "yes"**

The school year began again, and Elphaba started to believe she couldn't go an entire school year without being able to touch Fiyero in some way she hadn't already. Fiyero was thinking similarly, and thus approached the careful subject of winter break plans.

When he led her to his dorm one Friday night, she thought they'd spend the night kissing and teasing one another until they felt like stopping. However, Fiyero had other ideas. Before he let her bring him to the bed, he sat her down across from him in a chair and said, "We need to talk."

Elphaba cocked her head at him. "What?"

"I love you and you love me, right?"

Elphaba nodded. "Well, yeah. At least I hope you love me. I know I love you."

"And I love you, too." He reminded her. "And there are things that people do, when they're in love…"

"Fiyero, we can't!" She sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. "Not until… well, until…"

"Until we get married?" Fiyero finished for her.

"Yeah, that." She shifted in her chair.

"Now, I know you want to do these certain things, and so do I. You make me absolutely wild with that sort of thing, sometimes," he admitted. "But we can't."

"We know that. Why are we discussing this?"

"Because I want to be able to!" He exclaimed, standing. "I want to be able to take off your clothes, to lie you in bed and make love to you."

Elphaba was flushed beyond all reason and staring at the ground as if she was genuinely interested in it.

"I want to make you scream, make you moan. I want to hold you every night in my arms; I want to kiss you as you fall asleep. I want to spend every minute I can loving you."

"Fiyero, you think I don't want those things, too?" She didn't look him in the eyes, ashamed of her desires.

"Then let's do something about it!" He said heatedly. "Elphaba," he got down on his knees, "there's time, still, to plan for winter break. How about it?" He was fumbling with the drawer next to him, searching for something.

She brought her hand to her mouth. "You can't be asking me to…"

"Marry me?" He said quickly, holding up a box.

"Oh, sweet Oz!" Elphaba stood up and looked out the window. "I really didn't expect this tonight."

"You want me to warn you when I'm going to propose?" Fiyero demanded.

"No," she laughed, turning back to him, "not at all. I just didn't think you'd ask any time soon."

"I can't stand not having you! If I didn't ask soon enough, I'm afraid I might go crazy."

"Are you sure you're not rushing into this just because you want to have sex with me?" Elphaba asked quietly.

"Fae," her accusation slowed his words, "I love you. I'm going to love you for the rest of my life. I want so much more than just to make love to you. If that were all I wanted, I would've taken it a while ago, or at least tried to - "

"I wouldn't have let you," Elphaba informed him.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" He put an arm around her and watched her face. "I'm asking you because I want all those moments that I can't have right now. I want to wake up in the morning and see you next to me. I want to accidentally brush my hands against your bare skin and not feel ashamed of it. I want to watch you grow older, I want to sit with you, someday, and watch our children…"

"Children?" Elphaba repeated.

"Yes. I want us to have children, maybe one, maybe four. I just want… I want you."

"I want all that, too. Maybe even the children part, though, you have to remember, Fiyero, we're still in college. I just don't see how it's going to work for the next year and a half of college."

"There are married dorms."

"Have you seen the condition of them?"

"I'm a prince. I can do something about it."

"Can you?"

"Yes. But will you answer me?"

"Over winter break? How would there be enough time?"

"If we planned right now, we could get everyone to come out to Kiamo Ko. Your family, our friends, everyone. We have a month of winter break. We could get married the first week in and spend the rest on our honeymoon."

"But then we'd just come back to school and live separately again."

"If we applied for residency in the married dorms now, with the promise we'd be married after winter break, we could."

"I'm just not so sure about the married dorms, Yero my hero."

"Hell, we could get an apartment around this place. But I think the married dorms would be easier. But whatever you want, I'd be willing to do."

"I guess we could try the dorms…"

"So you'll marry me?"

"Was there every a question of it?" She replied.

"I don't know. Why don't you say 'yes', then?"

"Because I like watching you wait."

"Even if I know you're going to say 'yes'?"

"You're too sure of yourself. I might have to think about it. What would my family think?"

"They'd be happy for you."

"Not my family."

"Forget them, then. Invite them to the wedding, and if they have a problem, they can go…"

"I know." She cut him off. "Please, do not talk to my family that way."

"I won't." He promised.

"Okay, good. Well, it's getting late, I'd better go back to my dorm." She got up. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"You'll see me every day for the rest of your life."

"I don't know if I like that."

"Then don't marry me."

Teasing him, she chided, "Maybe I won't." She shut the door. The air was growing cold and she hugged herself. Looking up at the building, she saw Fiyero in the window, struggling to open it. She giggled. "What do you want?"

"You never said 'yes'."

"Hmmm. Well, I guess I have to."

"I guess you do."

She whispered up at him, "Yes."

When she looked back, she was almost sure she saw him dancing for joy in the window.


	20. What does it feel like?

**Chapter Twenty: What does it feel like?**

The night before the wedding, Glinda and Elphaba stayed in the same guest room. It wasn't for lack of rooms, but Elphaba was jittery and needed company. "Tomorrow night at this time…"

"You'll still be at the reception." Glinda finished. "But later tomorrow night, you and Fiyero… I can't believe you're getting married and I still haven't kissed a boy!"

"Boq's staying in a room on the next floor," Elphaba said simply.

Glinda made a face. "When you get back, will you tell me all about your honeymoon?"

"Certain things. If you want to know about the food…"

"I want to know about a lot of things, Elphie. I mean, no one I know has ever had sex."

"That's private! Besides, what do you think you'll ever need to know? I don't know anything and tomorrow night, I'm going to be married."

"I wonder if it's worth it." Glinda said dreamily.

"If it's any bit as good as kissing, it should be." Elphaba smiled.

"You never told me what kissing was like," Glinda said, bouncing excitedly on the bed.

"Well, what kind of kissing?"

"Just plain, old, regular kissing."

"Well, it's really just pressure on your lips, Glinda. I don't know why it could feel like anything else."

"What about fireworks?"

"It's sweet, yes. I wouldn't call what you see 'fireworks' exactly, but it certainly makes your head spin. I was lucky we were sitting down the first time he kissed me because I think I might've fallen backwards a little if I'd been standing." Elphaba shrugged.

"Aw, that's so cute. I'll bet Fiyero would've caught you."

"If you ever tell him anything I say tonight, I will kill you," Elphaba threatened.

"I won't!" Glinda promised. "But tell me, what's it like when a boy French kisses you?"

"You really want to know?" Elphaba asked.

"Well, yeah."

"How do you know Fiyero has French kissed me?" Elphaba demanded

"You're getting married. I can only assume you've done several things." Glinda said.

"We haven't done anything that required the removal of any clothing," Elphaba informed her.

"That doesn't say much. I'll bet you guys make out all the time."

"What's your definition of making out?"

"French kissing when you're lying down." Glinda seemed proud of this definition.

"Well, that's really just kissing."

"What's it like?"

"It's nice." Elphaba would say no more.

"Come on, Elphie! Doesn't it feel gross when he puts his tongue in your mouth?"

"It's a little… wet. But it's not gross, Glinda. If you want to call that sort of kissing 'gross', think of what certain other things would be classified as. Sex would be absolutely disgusting. And I would hope it isn't." Elphaba began getting ready for bed. "I'm afraid I'll toss and turn all night, Glinda."

"Are you going to tell me if sex is disgusting, Elphie?"

"Maybe." She turned out the lights. "But I don't want you bothering me about it anymore. I'm so nervous I could about burst."

In the next room, Fiyero was nervously pacing. If he sat down to think, he'd begin imagining Elphaba, and thinking of her was not helping him get through the night at all. The pressure from both families was overwhelming. Elphaba's family had been nothing but cordial to him, but she'd whispered to him that Nessa had thrown a fit and her father would only speak to her if forced. His family, after having met Elphaba, had become more accepting, but didn't seem to enjoy Elphaba's family. He just wanted everyone to get along, and it seemed his family did, as well. As soon as Elphaba's father had walked into the room at the rehearsal, Fiyero's father had attempted to greet him with a pat on the back and a handshake. He'd said something like "don't worry, we know this routine." Elphaba's father, however, had not been very receptive.

There was a knock at the door and he hoped strongly that it was not Elphaba. As much as he loved her, hours before their union was not the time for him to kiss her. If he kissed her now, he feared he'd have his way with her and neither of them would be of any mind to stop it. He was more than grateful when his father peeked his head into the room. "Nervous?"

"Very," Fiyero nodded vigorously.

"About tomorrow?"

"About tomorrow night," Fiyero added honestly. "I mean, I have no doubts that I love her, so why should I be nervous about tomorrow? It's everything after the wedding that I'm worried about." The words escaped his mouth without second thought. He couldn't believe he was telling his father, of all people, the sort of thing he'd just said.

"That's what I came to talk to you about."

Fiyero looked at his father questioningly.

"Sit down."

Fiyero did. "What is it?"

"Tomorrow night, you're going to lead your new bride to bed and make love to her, and that's what anyone would do."

"Dad, do we need to talk about this?"

"Yes, because you think it's going to be the best experience of both of your lives, and you need to know, it won't be."

"What in Oz do you mean?" Fiyero shifted uncomfortably.

"It doesn't always feel good for a woman the first time, so you need to be gentle."

"What?"

"I remember having this conversation with my father. There's something in a woman that breaks when you… well, put yourself into her deep enough."

"Even if she wants it and is expecting it?"

"No matter what. No matter how good you think you can make her feel, it's going to be painful for her. She'll probably bleed a little. Just don't be alarmed, but be careful."

"I don't want to hurt Elphaba…" Fiyero said quietly.

"It'll only hurt the first few times, she'll be a little… well, unreceptive those times, so you've got to be extremely cautious when making love to her."

"Will she know it's going to hurt?"

"With most young women, her mother should have told her. But her mother isn't around to warn her and her father certainly doesn't seem to want to speak to her at all."

"There's no way to avoid it?"

"None." His father affirmed.

Fiyero sighed. "Dad, I think I'm scared."

Elphaba was almost asleep when Glinda sat up and said, "Elphie! One more thing."

"What?" Elphaba grumbled.

"I've heard that you, like, split, the first time. And that it's not any good."

"Thank you. This is just the paranoia I need the night before my wedding."

"But that's what the girls say. That's why none of them ever want to do it. Pfanee said her boyfriend tried to make her, but she refused because she knew it would hurt really bad."

"Are you serious?" Elphaba was now paying more than enough attention to Glinda's words.

"I'm pretty sure. But they said it's supposed to get better. They're just not willing to go through the pain to find out."

"That's nice. How long do they think they're going to go through pain before it feels good?"

"The first two or three times."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I forgot. I was so excited for you that it just slipped out of my head."

"Most things slip out of your head unnoticed, don't they?"


	21. What it really feels like

**Chapter Twenty-One: What it really feels like**

The room they were to stay in was lit with only two candles when they entered. Its furniture was scarce, but a large bed, adorned with blankets of only the finest cotton, stood in the middle. Elphaba stared at it with wide eyes and anticipation as Fiyero closed the door behind them, saying, "Finally, alone."

Elphaba felt his arms wrap around her and she looked up at him with a small gulp. "Yes, finally. I thought that reception would never end."

"It hasn't. My parents said they'd put a stop to it and for us to go on up. I don't know why they made it so dark in here," Fiyero flicked on a light, still holding Elphaba with one arm, "I think, tonight, I want to see everything."

"All that and more, Yero my hero." She turned around. "Would you please unzip this dreadful thing?"

"So soon?" He grinned.

"I hate this gown more than anything. I don't care that I married you in it, I want off with it. I'm not even going to bother hanging it up."

"Good, I was planning on it being tossed to the floor with my clothes." Fiyero tugged at the zipper at the back of her dress. "There you go, you're free."

Elphaba looked at him again, and then stepped out of her dress and kicked it to the side. She smiled as Fiyero removed his suit jacket and tossed it near her dress. Only in a slip now, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him, letting one arm slide down to undo the buttons of his shirt. As the buttons came undone, she stopped kissing him and began to pay more attention to the diamonds. Both of her hands were tracing them now, and she giggled when he reached around and fumbled with the fastenings on her slip. "Eager to see me much?" She teased.

He removed the slip and started on her undergarments, taking a moment to run his hands along her stomach before pulling at her waistline playfully. "I want to do more than just see you. I want to touch you in places you've never been touched before. I want to feel your soft skin under my fingertips as you're begging for more. I want your hands to slide where they have before, only now able to touch what they want. I want you to feel how much I want you," he took one of her hands and together they undid the rest of his clothing.

She shivered, standing cold and bare in the middle of the room in the winter. His hands warmed her, but not enough. His hands were sliding downward now and he pressed his fingers between her legs gently and she gasped. "Come to bed," she beckoned, taking his hands and leading him across the room. She pulled back the blankets and laid back on the sheets. They were pure white and she felt sorry they may be stained within the next minutes… perhaps by blood. At once she began to shudder.

"Fae?" He asked, climbing onto the bed next to her and running each hand over her breasts, before taking his mouth to them. "Are you okay?"

She moaned at the feel of his mouth and harshly told herself to stop doubting. A hand slipped down to guide him. Again, she shuddered.

"Is something wrong?" He asked again.

"It's just," she gestured below his waist, "I can't see how you're not about to tear me apart. Nothing has ever been inside me and something so…" she flushed, "big… is going to hurt, isn't it?"

He nodded solemnly. "I don't want to hurt you, Fae."

"A little pain now, much pleasure later," she reassured herself and nodded into his eyes. "Just get it over with."

He brought a hand down to join hers and together they moved him into her. All at once, he could feel something pop and he had to do his best not to pull back in horror. "I don't want to hurt you," he repeated.

She squinted her eyes shut as pain ripped through her. It burned and it tore and she bit her lip so hard she tasted blood in order to keep from screaming in pain. "I'm fine." She choked.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, moving slowly.

"Don't be sorry!" She scolded. "It's the course of nature, Fiyero. Just kiss me as we do this, okay?"

"Okay." He did as she told him and slipped his arms around her waist, moving her in rhythm with him. Soon he forgot that she'd been in pain, for both of them had closed their eyes, and he found himself pushing faster. Her nails dug into his back as she felt him go deeper, but she would not pull her mouth from his. He did so soon enough and groaned in pleasure. "Fae, I love you."

She blinked back tears as he finally removed himself, and she wrinkled her nose at the thought of the fluids, including blood, mixing inside of her. She whimpered uncomfortably and managed to murmur, "I love you, too, Fiyero," before collapsing in his arms from exhaustion.

She woke in the middle of the night and noted that the lights were still on. Muttering to herself, she got up to turn them off. Her attention was diverted however, when Fiyero stirred in the bed. "Oh, Yero, you've got blood on you!"

"You were the one bleeding," he mumbled tiredly. "There should be more on you."

She looked down at herself to find that she was barely tainted with blood and she moved towards her bag, where her oils were. "I'll clean you up."

"Now?" He grumbled.

"Yes, now!" She snapped. "It's disgusting."

"I can do it myself."

"Don't bother," she sighed, bringing a bottle to the bedside table and cupping some in her palms. "Haven't you always wanted to be rubbed down with oil?"

"Only by you, Fae." He smiled, fully awake. Three minutes later, he took her again.

The second time, there was no pain. She'd braced herself for it to hurt again, like it had the first time, but she gladly found that it did not. Maybe it did get better. He pressed his mouth to hers and she pushed him gently. "Don't. I don't want to focus on the feel of anything but you in me like that."

"I'm not hurting you?" He asked, tentatively moving himself above her.

"Not at all. It feels fine."

"Are you sure?"

She only smiled up at him. "Mmmm. Yes. It feels much better now, Yero my hero."

"Good." He moved a little faster. "Tell me what you want."

She arched her back. "Oooooh, Yero, don't stop!"

"I wasn't planning on stopping any time soon, Fae." He continued thrusting with a sort of knowing ease. Slowly, her arms snuck around their waists and brought him further.

"Oh, I like that. Yero, you really are…" She gasped, "my hero." She twisted her neck back and forth with pleasure. "Like that, like that. Just like that. I… oh, Oz, Yero, please!" Her head fell back against the sheets and she writhed beneath him in ecstasy.

"Please what?"

"Don't ask. Just keep going like that. Moving like that. It's… oh, please." She cried out, "Oh, Yero I love you. I love you, I love you so much. Yes, love, yes!" Her eyes closed and she felt a sudden release as he moved. "Yero, that was so good."

He stopped, smirking above her. "I thought it would take forever to make you scream like that." Lying back down, he told her, "I thought you wouldn't like it that time."

"Well, I liked it. I liked it a lot. And Glinda said…"

"Glinda?"

"She said it would hurt for the first few times. What did she know? It only hurt once."

"Glinda's had sex?"

"No, Yero, darling. She hasn't. And that's why she couldn't possibly know just how wrong she is. Can we do it again in the morning?"


	22. Checking In

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Checking In**

He watched Elphaba when he woke up the next morning. Carefully, he pulled the blankets off of her and stared at her body. He could hardly believe that the woman lying beside him was his wife. He had even more difficulty believing that he'd made love to her twice the previous night, once making her reach orgasm. There was a knock on the door and Elphaba yawned and blinked, smiling up into his eyes. Quickly, he pulled the blanket over her naked body – he didn't want anyone to share the vision he'd been blessed with – and called, "Come in."

Glinda and Boq opened the door hesitantly. "We just wanted to say goodbye. We didn't see you two leave the reception. Your parents told us you'd gone upstairs and we didn't want to interrupt you…" Glinda was blushing feverishly now.

Fiyero and Elphaba smiled at each other knowingly. Elphaba said daringly, "How do you know you didn't interrupt us just now?"

"Ew!" Glinda ran out and shut the door.

However, Boq grabbed her and they knocked and opened the door again. Boq said, "We just wanted to let you know that we had a really good time last night, didn't we, Glinda?"

Glinda shuddered. "Look! Their clothes are on the floor. Boq, maybe we shouldn't have come up here."

Elphaba snorted and sat up, carefully holding the blanket so nothing was revealed. "Did you two dance together?"

Boq nodded, Glinda folded her arms and stuck her nose in the air. She said, "We have to leave, the carriage is waiting to take us back to Shiz. I'll miss you not being my roomie," she admitted.

"I'd hug you, but… well, you know." It was Elphaba's turn to blush.

"Ew!" Glinda said again, and this time Boq and her didn't return to bother them again.

Later that afternoon, after making love again and getting dressed, Fiyero suggested, "Can we go downstairs and say hello to everyone who's still here? They might get worried if they don't hear from us by nighttime."

"They wouldn't be surprised." Elphaba dismissed, grinning. "It's our honeymoon. We could spend the entire time in the bedroom and no one would give it a second thought."

"Can we, though? I think my parents would like to know that the 'royal couple' had a good night."

"I wonder if my family's still here." Elphaba said.

"I hate to tell you, but I severely doubt it. They probably left the reception the same time we did." Fiyero tried to restrain himself from making a face.

"You don't like my family much, do you?" Elphaba guessed.

"Well…"

"It's okay, neither do I." Elphaba went to her bag. "Of course we can go downstairs. Just let me do something." Digging through her bag, she brought out a bottle, shook a pill into her hand and swallowed it without any water.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure I don't get pregnant before I finish college, that's what. I've been taking these for a month now. You wouldn't want me to get pregnant because of this honeymoon, now, would you?"

"I wouldn't care. I want a big family. We might as well get started," Fiyero winked.

"Nope. I'm finishing college, Yero. There's no way I'm going to let the past few years go to waste after how hard I've worked."

"How would they go to waste when you met me?" Fiyero teased.

"You know what I mean," she looked at him. "I certainly didn't come to college expecting to meet someone and get married."

"Neither did I."

"But we did." Elphaba pulled Fiyero out of the lazy chair he was sitting in and hugged him. "You wanted to go downstairs, love?"

"Yes," he wrapped an arm around her waist and said, "let's go."

Fiyero's mother looked up from her reading when Elphaba and Fiyero came down the stairs. "There you two are. Did you sleep well?"

Elphaba nodded. "Most comfortable bed I've ever slept in."

"I'm glad to hear it. Do you two want anything to eat?"

"I'm starved," Elphaba said. "I haven't eaten since the reception. The servants brought us breakfast, but I was still sleeping and the food got cold."

Fiyero's mother stepped out of the room momentarily. "I'll get you something."

Fiyero and Elphaba sat down on the couch. Elphaba laid her head on Fiyero's shoulder. "Don't tell your mother, but I do believe the only reason that bed was so comfortable was because I shared it with you."

"That bed's going to see a lot, I expect." Fiyero kissed Elphaba. "There are many things I still want to try." He put his lips to her ear and began whispering.

"Yero!" She smacked his knee gently. "Don't talk about that now."

Fiyero's mother came back in holding a tray full of food. She placed it on the coffee table. "Eat what you like."

"Oh, thank you!" Elphaba pounced at the food. "I am so incredibly hungry. Your son," Elphaba informed Fiyero's mother, "is incredibly exhausting to deal with."

"He was exhausting as a baby. I'll tell you that much." She smiled. "I took care of him for long enough, anyway. You're welcome to him."

"Great." Elphaba laughed.

Fiyero glared at the two women and sat back in the couch. "She wasn't complaining this morning. She seemed perfectly happy to have me this morning. After we were, uh, rudely awoken, she couldn't stop telling me how happy she was."

"Oh, yes, I wasn't sure if I should've let your friends come up to say goodbye, but that poor girl seemed desperate to see Elphaba."

"She was. It's fine," Elphaba reassured her. "I was probably about to wake up anyway."

Fiyero's father came in about then and greeted them. "How does it feel being married?"

"Wonderful," Fiyero said quickly, knowing Elphaba would make some smart remark if left to answer on her own. "Right, Fae?"

"Tiring." Elphaba responded. "Very tiring. I hope the reception didn't take to long to clean up after, did it?"

"We have servants for that." Fiyero's mother laughed. "You should probably get used to that."

"We have a little while to go until we're living here, so I probably shouldn't. We have the rest of this year and next year to deal with. By then, I'll be as good as a slave, anyway."

"I wouldn't treat you like that!" Fiyero exclaimed. "I'd be your slave."

Elphaba finished eating and wiped her hands on a napkin. "Really? Then take me back to bed, darling. I'm feeling a little sleepy."

He picked her up playfully and said into her ear, "You'll be more than a little sleepy by the time I'm done," and took her upstairs.


	23. Complaining

**AN: That was NOT a reference to sex, at least never in front of or to his parents… The pills thing… I can't defend, really. How else am I supposed to do it, you know?**

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Complaining**

At Shiz, Elphaba often woke in the middle of the night to the sound of their neighbor's baby boy crying. Sometimes she'd baby-sit the boy during the day, when she didn't have classes, but other times she could not stand him. Nights like this, for instance. She sat up, yawned, and got out of bed wearily.

"Fae?" Fiyero sat up. "Come back to bed."

"Why? I can't sleep." Elphaba rubbed her eyes. "If it's going to be like this when we have children…"

"You'll have to deal with it," Fiyero finished. "But that won't be for a while, and we won't have classes to deal with. We have life sciences tomorrow morning. At least try and sleep."

She moved towards the corner of the room that was their kitchen and poured herself a glass of milk. "I guess. Doesn't it bother you?"

"Only when you leave me sleeping by myself."

"Do you really need me to get to sleep, Yero?"

"Yes. You beside me comforts me. It makes me think that everything's going just fine, when I've got you. When you're not next to me, I get nervous. Is that so wrong?"

She shook her head. "What would you ever do if I hadn't married you?" Tiredly, she looked out the window.

He got up and joined her. "We must look funny."

"Well, we're standing naked at a window. I would hope at three in the morning no one is looking at our window." Elphaba turned to him and smiled.

"Maybe we should get back to sleep. Even if it's difficult."

"I might just stand here for a while." Elphaba mumbled.

"I wouldn't want anyone seeing you but me." Fiyero said, pulling her out of the way of the window.

"You're possessive."

"I love you. It's only natural. Now come on."

"Do you really need me that much?" Elphaba glared at him.

"I do. I honestly do. I need to hold you or I'll wake up thinking something's wrong." He dragged her to the bed. "So just lie here, even if you can't sleep. For me?"

"I married a crazy man. What was I thinking?"

"You were thinking that you love me more than anything and now you're going to come back to bed so we can get some sleep before class. Maybe even wake up in the morning and make love, too."

"That sounds nice," Elphaba murmured softly, pulling the blankets up.

"Well, good. But you need to sleep so we can do that. I don't want you falling asleep during sex or during class."

"Dr. Nikidik wouldn't even notice, Yero." However, she crawled into bed.

"Well, just try, Fae, okay?"

"Mmmm," she slipped into his arms, "Okay."

The next thing she knew was being shoved out the door. "Fae, we have to go to class!"

"I'm walking, okay? I didn't get much sleep." She trudged wearily through the grounds. "I don't see why I go to class in the first place. I could pass the final in my sleep. It's not as if Dr. Nikidik knows anything, either."

"Here she goes again," he mumbled.

"Yero!" At this point they'd reached the lecture hall, to Fiyero's delight, for he did not have to answer to Elphaba's anger.

"As I was saying… could you two please come to class on time? Or at least one of you?" Dr. Nikidik looked down his nose at them. "I do not appreciate my lectures being interrupted. Why must you two always insist on being late together?"

"Well, we're kind of living together, so when she's late, so am I." Fiyero replied, pushing Elphaba to their seats.

"Living together, eh?"

"We're _married_." Elphaba snapped. "I'm sorry Dr. Nikidik, it's my fault. Our neighbor's baby was up crying all night last night and I, unlike my husband, don't sleep through that sort of thing."

"What's it like, being married students?"

"I don't think that this has anything to do with life sciences, Dr. Nikidik." Elphaba responded shortly.

"Well, it's your life, and marriage, many believe, is a science."

"We're doing just fine, thank you," Fiyero answered, sitting down. "You can go back to your lecture." He waited until Dr. Nikidik had begun talking again and then whispered to Elphaba, "You don't have to be so rude to him, he's just trying to be social."

"Well, I don't think he has to draw attention to us, okay?"

He knew she still harbored resentment at his replacing Dr. Dillamond and that nothing would make her warm up to the old man, so he didn't bother to push his argument. Instead, he rummaged through his book bag and took out his notebook and began taking notes. When he noticed Elphaba not moving, he prodded her. "Aren't you going to take notes, oh studious one?"

"Can I just borrow yours?" She asked sleepily. "I'm too worn out. I can't even think straight." Slowly, her head came to rest on his shoulder.

"If you can decipher my scribble, go ahead." He didn't know if she heard, her eyes had already closed. One arm the desk taking notes, he slipped the other around her to keep her comfortable.

"Thanks, I appreciate that," she mumbled. Whether she appreciated his placing an arm around her or his allowing her to borrow his notes, it was indistinguishable.

He nudged her again. "Fae, you can't just sleep through class."

"Don't tell me what to do. You're the one who woke me up an hour after I'd finally gotten to bed and begged me to make love." She hissed.

"And you looked at me, licked those succulent little lips of yours and climbed on top of me all too readily. Don't think I don't hear what you sigh under your breath, Fae. I heard you mutter something about there being 'nothing better than waking up to make love passionately like this'." He said into her ear. "I heard that. I hear a lot of the things you say, too. But I'm nice enough not to repeat them right now."

Elphaba seemed to be awake then, for she slapped Fiyero hard across the face so loudly the noise echoed in the room and Dr. Nikidik stopped mumbling. The old man looked up and said, "Is there something going on back there?"

Fiyero held his face in his hands. "I think I'm okay."

"If you are," Elphaba growled, "I'll hit you again."

"Maybe you two should get the notes for this lecture from someone later. I don't need you disrupting my lesson with your married troubles, okay?" Dr. Nikidik pointed at the door.

Elphaba and Fiyero, neither even looking towards the other, exited the classroom. They seemed to walk almost robotically down the stairs and towards their dorm room. Elphaba slammed the door when they entered. "You imbecile. If you ever, ever consider talking to me like that in public, no matter how quiet you think you are, I will not hesitate to do that ten times worse!"

"If you ever slap me in front of anyone, or slap me again," Fiyero answered angrily, "we can go back to separate dorms and forget this marriage. How does that sound?"

Elphaba blinked, not expecting Fiyero to be strong enough to make a threat so harsh. "We're fighting," she observed.

"Yes, yes we are. And if you don't promise me you won't do that again, we will be for quite a while."

"I won't do it again if you promise never to talk dirty like that to me again."

"That wasn't talking dirty! Do you listen to me in bed sometimes, Fae?"

"For public's sake, that was dirty, all right? I don't care what kinds of things you tell me when we're alone. You can be as blunt and erotic as you want when we're intimate, because then it's okay. But making any sort of comment like the one you made during class was not! For Oz's sake, even if I'm half-asleep, I'm still trying to learn, not trying to remember the sex we had this morning like you, Fiyero!"

"You brought it up." He said defensively. "I was only stopping you from blaming me for it."

"I only brought it up because it was partially the reason I was sleeping, which you were scolding me for. I don't regret it, necessarily. I had two orgasms, and I never regret that, but you don't seem to understand that I could've had those same orgasms with you after class, not at four thirty in the damned morning!"

"I'm sorry, okay? I was dreaming and you were in it and I woke up before…"

"You are such a male."

"Is that such a bad thing? If I wasn't, would you have been squealing this morning?"

"A woman would probably be more considerate, but truthfully, no, probably not. Only you can do that to me." She got a faraway look in her eyes and tried to snap herself back. "But this isn't about sex! This is about the way you speak to me and the way you treat me. I can't stand being woken in the middle of the night, no matter how good the sex may be."

"It was morning, not the middle of the night."

"Whatever." She looked at the clock. "Class is almost over. We should go apologize. I need an A in that class, regardless of the fact that I thoroughly believe you deserved that slap."

"I don't. I was just defending myself, as I said."

"I'm tired, Fiyero. Can you expect me to be rational?"

"I barely expect it when you're fully awake."

"Thanks. Thanks a lot." She began storming out of the room.

"Fae, wait!" He ran after her. "I… I'm sorry, okay? I don't believe I was wrong, but I'm sorry I upset you."

When she looked at him, he noticed that her eyes were shining as she fought back the bitter water that came to them. "I just don't want to fight right now, okay?"

"I don't, either. Let's just understand that you're tired and I'm male. There. Everything's understood. I love you, still."

"You love the woman who slapped you in the middle of life sciences class?"

"Hey, it got us out of class for a day. Why would I complain?"

She smiled. "I'm not," she kissed him quickly, "and neither are you."


	24. Boys' Night

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Boys' Night**

The five boys of their old group – Fiyero, Avaric, Boq, Crope and Tibbett – went out the café (and possibly, Avaric whispered later, when he and Fiyero were out of Elphaba's earshot, the Philosophy Club, at which Fiyero faithfully balked). Elphaba had called it a boys' night and rolled her eyes, but Fiyero had continued to see it as what Crope and Tibbett had called it, "A Men's Time-Out". "Aren't I technically a man by now, Fae? Why must you insist on calling it a boys' night?"

"Because that's what it is. I will always see Boq as a boy, because that's what I first knew him as. Avaric acts childish enough to still be a boy, and Crope and Tibbett are definitely not grown. If anything, they're women more than men. That leaves you," Elphaba teased, "as the only man in the group. So got out with your boys, have fun, but not too much."

He saw the uncertainty in her eyes when she opened the door for him and he answered, "Nothing beats the 'fun' I have with you, Fae."

She smiled then, and kissed him sweetly. "All right, then. Just have a good time. I'll be here when you get home."

The "boys" were glad to have Fiyero out of his "captivity", as they called it, for a small time, at least. Fiyero protested that he enjoyed marriage.

"Right. It's hell and you and Elphaba just won't admit it." Crope joked.

"It's nothing like hell. I love Elphaba and she loves me. We've got each other and I really don't see what else I'd need."

"What about your friends?" Boq asked, offended.

"That's not even spoken." Fiyero said quickly.

"I wouldn't want to report back to prison and to some bitch every evening, that's all I know." Avaric said. "Women turn bitchy the day after the honeymoon."

"I find it nice, actually, coming home to a loving, beautiful woman and a warm bed."

"Elphaba's not loving!" Tibbett laughed. "Is she?"

"If you're loving back, any woman could be loving." Boq guessed.

"Who'd want to love the same woman all his life?" Avaric asked cynically.

"Boq would gladly love Glinda." Crope piped in.

"How was the other night?" Tibbett added.

Fiyero raised his eyebrows at Boq. "What's going on?"

"Glinda and Boq went on a sort-of date. She refuses to call it anything of that nature, but he insists that's what it was." Avaric explained. "Did you do anything?"

"No."

"Nothing? No cuddling?" Avaric made a face. "No hand-holding? No crazy sex in the middle of the night?"

"I would never take Miss Glinda that way!" Boq was horrified.

"I was kidding, man." Avaric grinned.

Fiyero was amused at his friend's attitudes about sex. He suddenly felt much more mature than the rest of them, and he was part glad that married life had affected him and partially sad he would no longer be able to share his friends' pathetic innocence. But he'd rather make love to Elphaba at night than stay innocent, he knew. He only smiled at them. "Relax, Boq."

"It's okay, he's afraid of sex, aren't you?" Crope chided.

"Oh, let him alone." Fiyero remembered the eagerness and anticipation that had come with his and Elphaba's first coupling, but also recalled the nervousness and fear, as well. Sex was scary to think about as a virgin, in some ways. It certainly didn't scare him anymore.

"Coming from our married man over here?" Avaric laughed. "Well, that's okay. You probably get some as often as we do."

He stared at his napkin. It was his time with his friends, but if Elphaba ever knew he said something, she'd never forgive him. Nonetheless, he said, "I get as much as I want, thank you very much."

"That's what they all say." Tibbett countered.

"No, really. You guys will be going straight to bed tonight and I will be up making love to Elphaba." Fiyero couldn't help but brag, especially with Avaric's attitude.

"Oh, you will, will you? I doubt she'll still be awake. It's almost ten now, anyway."

"She doesn't mind if I wake her." Fiyero shrugged. "You guys can make as much fun of me as you want, but you forget that I have a sex life, unlike the rest of you."

"I do!" Avaric argued. "I've got a girl. I'm just not allowed to say her name."

"Come on!" Crope rolled his eyes. "Yeah, some imaginary girl without a name."

"I swear!"

"And you have sex?"

"As a matter of fact, we started last week."

But Fiyero knew things that could catch Avaric in his lie. "Did you hurt her?"

"Why would I hurt her? I did have her, uh, screaming for mercy!" He gave Tibbett a high five at this remark.

"Because she liked it or because you were hurting her?" Fiyero pressed.

"I don't know what went wrong with you and Elphaba," Avaric snapped, "but I didn't hurt my girl."

"Was she a virgin?"

"Yeah."

Fiyero clicked his tongue and said, "Whatever you say, Avaric. Whatever you say."

"At least I didn't hurt my girl!" Avaric replied.

"It's supposed to hurt her the first time. I think you'd better go ask your girl if she was a virgin again, Avaric, because if she didn't bleed, she likely wasn't."

All four of the "boys" stared at Fiyero in awe. Crope said, "Wait, it hurts a girl the first time? Are you sure?"

"My dad warned me the night before Elphaba and I got married. She's supposed to bleed. Don't take everything I say too seriously. After all, I'm just married, how could I know?"

Avaric spit out his coffee and mumbled something to himself. Fiyero smiled proudly at his revealing Avaric's mistruth. Boq said, "I don't think I want to know more. At least not about Elphaba."

Avaric took this chance to come back. "Yeah, seriously, having sex with the green skinned freak doesn't count as having sex, man."

Fiyero pounded a fist on the table. "Would you please refrain from calling my wife a freak? I'd appreciate it."

"Sorry," Avaric muttered.

"Thank you." Fiyero stood up. "Let's go on back, shall we?"

When he got in, Elphaba ran and hugged him at the door. "I stayed up for you," she whispered. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Avaric down the hall. "Come in, my love." She smiled at Fiyero and glared at Avaric and the rest of the boys. "It's late."

Before the door closed, she heard Avaric whisper, "Let's go down to their window and see if Fiyero really gets some tonight."

She kicked the door shut completely and kissed Fiyero. "How was your night?"

"It was fine." He began getting undressed, gesturing for her to do the same.

"No, no, not yet, love."

He raised his eyebrows. She was being too forcibly sweet. "What is it?"

"Your friends think they're having a show tonight. No way are either one of us getting undressed until they are far away from the window. Turn out the lights a pretend to sleep. I promise we can do what you want later."

He nodded. They sat next to one another on the bed in silence until Elphaba heard laughter near the window sill. Fully dressed, she went to the window and did nothing but flick off the boys, and then rejoined Fiyero in bed.


	25. Decisions

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Decisions**

"Hey," she sat up, knocking her pillows to the floor with her forearm. She reached for them as she waited for a response and held them close to her protectively with one arm, as if she felt that whatever had woken her would deal a blow straight to her chest. When no imaginary fist emerged and there was no movement from the other side of the bed, she thrust out her free arm and clutched his shoulder to shake him awake. "Hey!"

He opened his eyes, stared at the high wooden ceiling for a moment and grumbled at last, "What?"

"I was thinking," she began.

"Well, you certainly do too much of that," he replied.

"I need to make up for the thinking that _someone_," she coughed, not politely, "doesn't do."

"Who? Me?" He still did not sit up; he merely turned his head on the pillow, looking at the sheets where her hair and the pillows had been earlier that evening. Not even when he realized that he was talking to darkness did he make an attempt to rise.

"Well, some people I know." She said quickly. "Don't prod me; I'm trying to talk to you." She snipped.

"Okay," he closed his eyes again and took a deep breath.

She quit holding the pillows and grabbed each of his hands in hers roughly. "I'm serious." She tugged. "So listen." She stuck her nose out proudly when she had sat him up.

"Fae," he sighed, "last week you were mad at me for waking you and now look what you're doing!"

"This is appropriate to wake you for; it's important."

"I thought the reason I woke you last week was important."

"This isn't about sex, you dumb idiot, it's about our future!" She protested, yanking on his arm to keep his attention.

"Then it can wait until the morning; that's not far in the future."

"You think you're so funny," she did not let go of him. "Tomorrow's the last day to take up another class. We have to discuss this now!"

"Another class? You're taking five; you don't need another. I'm perfectly happy taking three. I'll only have to take two more next year and that'll be nice." He reasoned.

"But what if we didn't go to school at all next year? What if you took those two classes now and I took the last four more I need?"

"I, unlike you, Fae, don't have the brainpower to take five classes at a time, or the instinctive genius, either."

"I'll help you."

"When you have, what was it you said, nine classes? You won't be sleeping, much less even acknowledging that I exist." He guessed.

"I wouldn't!" She argued. "I'd still be around. I know what you're thinking, too. Just because I have a lot of classes, I promise it won't affect anything between us."

"You'll be too tired to even _talk_ to me." Fiyero insisted.

"It won't be like that. We can still make love most nights, we can still even have our weekly…"

"I don't care. I don't want you stressed. It won't do either of us any good."

"But, Fiyero… don't you want to get started making a family and a life for us as soon as possible?"

This thought made him pause. He would love to have Elphaba with him day in and day out, without classes or studying or papers. He would love to lead her to bed without her protesting that they'd have to wake for class early the next morning, so she'd rather sleep. He would love to come into the room, tired from the life of being a prince, to the comfort of her arms. He would love to see her relax, to sit down and let herself be treated right instead of working for just one moment. He would love to sneak up behind her midday and hug her. He would love to watch her belly grow as the child they would no doubt eventually conceive would grow inside her… He looked at her as he thought these things, and began to wonder if they could do it. "Fae, we couldn't. Could we?"

"We could. Don't you see?"

"But what would you do all day?"

"I don't know. I don't want my degree to be worth nothing, but I'm not going anywhere without you." She promised.

"You could teach Animals out in the Vinkus. There are some. The Vinkus children, aside from the royal ones, don't even go to school. We could teach them to be a better culture than the one here."

Elphaba smiled at this idea and seemed to consider it. "I think I'd like that."

"See? We could be happy."

"Exactly. And we could be happy a year earlier if you'd just register for two more classes and I for four." She pushed.

"I can't imagine you'll have time for married life and nine classes and social life outside of this marriage." Fiyero shook his head in wonder.

"I barely have a social life outside of this marriage, my hero. You are my social life." She admitted.

"Glinda. Boq."

"Two people. The rest of the group doesn't even count. When was the last time we all went out, anyway?"

"Last month."

"We left early. You were desperate to get home, as I recall."

"I wanted you. I'm sorry, it happens sometimes. Would you rather I looked at you and was disgusted? If seeing you in that very tight dress made me run my hands up your thighs, I'm sorry."

"It was at a dinner table. You almost put your fingers in me at a dinner table. I still haven't quite forgiven you for that."

"You were very forgiving when we got home." Fiyero did not hesitate to remind her.

She blushed. "Well, I… you… I couldn't help… when you… oh, it's your fault anyway!" She began getting out of bed.

"What are you getting up for?"

"I don't know." She admitted, helpless. "I hate it when you prove me wrong. I hate it when I prove you right."

"Well," Fiyero kidded, "you must hate this marriage then."

"Don't you start that with me! I'm right more often then you are."

"Elphaba…"

"Oh, forget it." She sat down on the edge of the bed. "But Fiyero, don't you see what I was talking about? This summer, it could be just like," she crawled over to him in the bed playfully and tore the covers away, "our honeymoon."

"A second honeymoon when we haven't even been married for a year. That makes no sense whatsoever." Nonetheless, Fiyero could not hide his interest.

"Yero, don't you want it?" She begged, pouting her lips.

"I've never seen you do that."

"Stop trying to distract me or yourself. I can see you want me, but you're not getting me until you give me a definite answer. We have to make this decision by tomorrow." She pushed him down on the bed and straddled him.

"Fae!"

"Answer me."

"You are not fair."

"You'll have me whether you say 'yes' or 'no'. I just want an answer."

"You know it's yes," he told her, rolling over and pinning her down with a heated kiss.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Elphaba giggled. "That's what I wanted to hear."

"And it's the same thing you'll be screaming in just a few minutes."

The last thing she said before she fell asleep was, "I hate it when I prove you right."


	26. Boq and Sex

Chapter Twenty-Six: Boq and Sex 

Glinda came to visit Elphaba around the last few days of school while Fiyero was out. Immediately she complained, "I never see you anymore."

"You see me all the time, Glinda." Elphaba sat down at the small table in the kitchen that she and Fiyero ate their meals at. "What in Oz are you talking about?"

"I haven't seen you alone since the day before you were married, Elphie. That was almost half a year ago." Glinda said.

"I'm sorry." Elphaba shrugged. She was not sure if she was sorry. Glinda was her best friend and the truth was that she hadn't gone out to any sort of social thing without Fiyero. But for some reason, she had longed to speak with Glinda alone, this afternoon. "We're talking now. And there are a few things we need to talk about."

"Yes, we do." Glinda agreed. "How have you been, Elphie?"

"Happy."

"I'm glad. I've kind of missed you."

"No you haven't. Boq, Fiyero, you and I go out often enough."

"But I miss just talking to you. There are things I've been wanting to ask you for a long time that I can't just blurt out in front of anyone else."

"You've never had a problem blurting things out before." Elphaba commented.

"What's it like, Elphie? Was it scary?"

"I knew you were going to ask me this," Elphaba shook her head. "If you must know… it's… kind of like a tearing the first time, like someone's taken a knife and tore off a layer of skin."

Glinda winced. "I never want to have sex."

"It's not that bad. Well, it wasn't that bad, for me. Fiyero's always been gentle when he knows he has to be."

"Did you tell him to be?"

"We didn't speak at all for most of it. He just kissed me a lot and I tried to get used to it. When he came, though, it felt so gross and I felt so… ugh, disgusting and used, even though we were married. Afterwards, he told me that he loved me and hugged me close. I was so exhausted from the entire day, not just the sex, that I felt right asleep."

"Did you bleed, though? Glinda pressed.

"Well, yes."

"It sounds so gross, Elphie. How could you ever want to do that again?"

"Because I told myself it would feel good later. And he liked it, so I wasn't going to just deprive him."

"I wouldn't care what my husband wanted, I'd just say 'no way'."

"I have a feeling most women don't do that." Elphaba laughed. "Besides, you were right when you said you'd heard it got better."

"It does?"

"Thank Oz it does. I don't know how I'd stand the way Fiyero is about it if it wasn't feeling just as good for me. In the middle of the night when I accidentally woke him again, he got that look in his eyes and I just kind of laid back, figuring I'd be doing this a lot. He was incredibly surprised I wasn't hurting anymore. But I certainly wasn't. It was," Elphaba shuddered, "much, much better."

"Really? It wasn't uncomfortable?"

"And afterwards it felt less like he'd just used me for a toilet and more like we'd just made love for real. We talked for a little while afterwards, too, and he kept telling me he hadn't meant to do it again that night; he'd just felt my hands when I'd moved against him getting up and he couldn't help himself. I told him it was fine, and he could do whatever he wanted as often as he wanted, because I certainly wouldn't complain. We fell asleep really close to each other, then, and that time it seemed more like a honeymoon and less like a duty. We probably would've slept the whole next day through, though, because we were quite tired after doing it twice, but _someone_ came and knocked on our door."

"So I didn't interrupt you?"

"Of course not. I was glad to see you before you left. I wanted to tell you what it was like, but I couldn't very well get out of bed, naked, and just take you aside."

"I'm glad it wasn't terribly awful."

"It wasn't, not at all. And Fiyero and I love each other more than anything, so even if it had been bad, I'd still go through with it. There are so many other moments with him that aren't sex that I'd do anything to keep."

"I thought young married couples just sat around and had sex all the time," Glinda said stupidly.

"Are you serious? We have classes and things to do. I mean, there are times when Fiyero or I get playfully excited and we can't help ourselves, but we're young and restless and it's fine. Once or twice, he's been a complete idiot and suggested things at the wrong times, but normally he knows when to behave. We'll probably be a little reckless for a few years, but I don't mind it at all. There's so much in it that's not sex, though. Waking up in the morning and finding his arms around me, coming back from class and going straight back to sleep while he makes breakfast or lunch, taking care of him when he's sick… any of that. I love it all, even when I think I hate it."

"I'm happy for you." Glinda decided. "I'm really glad you found Fiyero, Elphie. I do wish you'd spend more time with me, but I'm glad you have him."

Elphaba bit her lip. How could she spend more time with Glinda when in a week she'd be back at Kiamo Ko for life? "Oh, Glinda, I have to tell you… Fiyero and I might not be coming back next year. We're graduating early." Simplest terms were easiest.

"What?" Glinda was dumbstruck. "You're leaving me here?"

"You can come out and visit us. Over the summer, if you really want, in the last month, you can come. Fiyero and I need to get used to living at Kiamo Ko and such, but you're welcome to come out, Boq, too."

"Why must you put Boq in everything you say to me?" Glinda demanded.

"Because, from what Fiyero tells me, you two went out on a date. And your second one is to be tonight."

"It wasn't a date! And how do you know that?"

"Boq's been really close with Fiyero, lately. Almost as close as we've been. Fiyero tells me everything. He's not so good at keeping secrets when I have my own ways of persuasion." Elphaba smiled smugly.

"Well, I agreed I'd see Boq. I didn't agree it would be a date." Glinda huffed.

"Going out alone is very close to dating." Elphaba argued.

"Not if we didn't even hold hands."

"Would you hold his hand if he tried?"

"I… I don't know." Glinda stuttered. She looked to the door as the knob opened. "Oh, well, I must go. Your wonderful husband is home."

Fiyero stepped into the room. He smiled at both of the women. "Hey, Glinda."

"I was just leaving." She said quickly.

"You don't have to." Fiyero said.

"I was going to. Elphie and I have discussed a lot and I think I need some time to myself…"

"Glinda!" Elphaba called as the door closed.

"What was that all about?" Fiyero looked at Elphaba.

"Boq. And sex."

"Boq… and sex? What?"

"Two completely separate conversations, don't worry about it."

Fiyero leaned down and kissed Elphaba on the cheek. "We'd better start packing. We're leaving in two days."

"Forever." Elphaba said softly.

"I thought that's what you wanted?"

"It is." Elphaba took his hands and stood up. "All I want is you forever. And maybe my best friend."

"That's what this is about?" Fiyero sighed. "I've invited Boq out for the end of the summer, after we're settled. If you want Glinda…"

"I already did."

"I didn't say you could."

"I don't need your permission!" Elphaba exclaimed.

"You never have." Fiyero chucked. "You never will."


	27. Immunity

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Immunity**

Fiyero was constantly watching Elphaba sleep. He couldn't move much to adjust his view, since she often fell asleep on his chest, but he enjoyed watching her contented form breathe calmly. She seemed most at peace, and happier recently than she had been. Her green chest rose and fell with her breath, and he kissed her forehead. Every morning, he would do this. These were his most cherished moments, aside from the moments making love. Perhaps these still were his most treasured moments, nonetheless. There was love here, still, even if it wasn't being communicated completely physically. It was moments like these, watching her, whether awake or sleeping, that he realized how much he loved and needed her.

The summer had begun and Fiyero's parents had welcomed them home gladly. They had reminded Fiyero that he wasn't expected to begin his duties as soon-to-be king for at least a year, and Fiyero had known that. He looked forwards to spending an easy year with Elphaba. She'd already had trouble adjusting from their lonely life at Shiz to life with the servants serving everything. But she'd become contented and they were spending their days together, doing whatever they pleased. At nights, they'd often make love and fall asleep soon afterwards, able to sleep until whenever they wished.

Elphaba murmured something in her sleep and nudged Fiyero. He looked down at her expectantly, but she was back to being sound asleep. With a loving arm, he pulled her closer and pressed his lips to her ear. "Elphaba. It's time to get up now."

"Really? I thought we could get up whenever we wanted." She teased. Nonetheless, she stood up and stretched, giving Fiyero a look because he was still in bed. "What?"

He stared at her and a grin snuck into his features. "I love looking at you."

"That's nice, but I'm getting dressed now." She moved towards the closet. "I, for one, don't see why you like looking at me so much."

"I'm not even going to start." Fiyero was too used to Elphaba's argument of her looks. He made sure to tell her every evening that she was beautiful, but he wouldn't press it further; he knew better. "You know what I think."

"I'm well aware. But you're my beautiful diamond boy," she reminded him gently, pausing and going back to the bed, sitting on top of the covers casually.

He was amused at how comfortable she was with him. Somehow, even though they were married, he'd expected her to be more private, more reticent. Perhaps he had changed that much of her. "I'm not a boy, Fae."

"No, you're right. You are a man, at twenty-one. And I would know better than anyone." She smiled widely.

He laughed lightly. "Fae, you are so crass sometimes."

"That wasn't crass!"

"It was… well… very blunt."

"No. I never said _why_ I would know better. That would be blunt. I can tell you why, if you'd like."

"That's okay, I can guess."

"I'm glad you're confident in yourself." She replied. With a quick kiss, she rose again and opened the doors to the closet. "Come get dressed."

"All right." He looked dejected, but stood up anyway and joined Elphaba. He was reaching for something when her body slammed against the door. "Fae!"

"Nothing. Just… feeling a bit faint." She looked up weakly, now sprawled on the floor. "I'm fine." She reached a hand out for Fiyero to help her up.

He bent down and scooped her completely in his arms. "Are you all right?"

"Fine." She smiled. "Thank you, though."

He put her on the bed. "You're not fine. You collapsed."

"I didn't collapse. I just fell. I'm okay. Really." She stared up and him and he roughly shoved her back down in the bed. "What are you doing?"

"Stay here. I don't want you getting up if you might fall down again. I'll get us breakfast in bed."

"Get dressed first. You look ridiculous."

He shook his head, but obeyed what she asked. It couldn't hurt. He flung open the door and screamed, "Mom!"

She laid back and groaned. "I can't believe you're doing this. I'm not a baby."

"I'll take care of you. Remember, that was part of the marriage vow?"

"I take care of you. You don't need to care for me, I can do it myself." She argued, sitting up.

"Lie down!" He commanded harshly.

She backed off. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm worried, all right?" He turned towards the doorway and found himself face to face with his mother. "I think she's sick. Can you have one of the servants bring us breakfast in bed? Can you help me? She pretty much crumpled to the ground two minutes ago."

"I did not crumple!" She snapped. "I fell."

"She fell into the door. She claimed she felt a bit faint."

"You need to leave it alone! I'm fine! Stop overreacting…" Elphaba stood angrily. All at once, darkness came in from all sides and she lost her footing, only to wake a minute later on the blankets of her bed with Fiyero hovering over her. "I swear I'm fine."

"My mom went to get one of the servants. You need food." He was simple. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Letting you get up. Sometimes you don't know what's best for yourself."

"How can you tell me that?" She glared, finding her head to heavy to lift.

"Look where you are. If I hadn't caught you… The floors are hard, Fae. You could have killed yourself."

She looked over the side of the bed and her head spun. "I wasn't sick until you accused me of it."

"No, you were better at hiding it when you were half asleep." He sighed and sat down next to her. "I'm going to take care of this, I promise. My mom wanted me to ask, though. There's no way you could be pregnant?"

"Not at all. I bled last week. Besides, I'm still taking that medicine. We agreed we didn't want kids until we'd had a nice, simple year. Right?"

"Right. I was just making sure. I wouldn't have a problem if you were pregnant. You know that, right?"

"I'm well aware. You tell me that often enough, Fiyero, that I'm not going to hide it when it does happen."

There was a knock on the door and Fiyero's mother peeked in. "Is she up?"

"I'm fine." Elphaba answered.

"I saw you fall. It wasn't pretty. We need to get you to a doctor immediately."

"Why? It's just a little dizziness. Everyone gets sick occasionally."

"You haven't been immunized for Vinkus diseases, have you?"

"What?"

"There are diseases out here that we're immune to, but people from, let's say Munchkinland or Gillikin or the city aren't."

"Like what? The magic dizzy sickness?"

"Like the fatal Vinkus flu."


	28. I'm still here

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: "I'm still here"**

_I'm here. I'm here. Why can't they hear me?_

_What am I doing? Let me explain._

_A month ago, I started feeling exhausted, and it wasn't just from Fiyero being the ever-energetic lover that he is. I swear, if this ever goes away, I will never again complain about that. I was only kidding, Oz knows I was only kidding. Fiyero, always observant, noticed after some time (only after I fell into a wall, actually), and he put me on bed-rest immediately. I've come down with something, and they even had the doctor out here. But if I've already got what they believe I've got, the only thing they can do is give me a shot so it won't happen again if I live through this. I was completely mobile through all of that, and more – like the pain. My head's been spinning and I can't even take care of myself anymore, that's Fiyero's job, I guess._

_The things I wish I could tell you, Fiyero._

_Sometimes, when he's bathing me in oil, like he does twice daily, I can almost feel it. Almost. He seems to know where to pay "special attention". Well, he always has, hasn't he? For the first week, I talked to him and informed him of just the right way to touch me, to keep me clean, but now I can't even open my mouth. It's gotten that bad._

_Darling, I'm trying to speak. I want you to hear. Why can't you hear? Please listen. But you can't, can you, when I can't even speak?_

_I refused to believe it was anything but a fever until two weeks ago, when he cried. It wasn't his tears that convinced me, of course, but my reaction. He'd climbed into bed and put his arms around me; I smiled lightly and closed my eyes. I assume he thought I was asleep, but I heard the choking sob from his throat. I wanted to move, to tell him that he was being a worry and an idiot, to push him away to remind him I was still there… but I couldn't. I could not gather the strength to even roll myself over. In a whisper, though I forced it as much as a shout, I insisted I was fine. He blinked, surprised I was awake, I guess, and then shook his head. "You're not fine, Fae. I wish you were as much as you tell me you are, but you aren't. Please get better."_

_How can I control if I get better, Fiyero? Tell me and I will. I can't stand this anymore. You take me outside, but I only see; I can't touch. You talk to me, comfort me, but what good is it when I can't respond? I resent you for telling Glinda not to come out here. I know you didn't want her to see me like this, but I miss her. _

_What if…? Oh, I won't start. I promised I wouldn't. I promised. I believe it was the last thing I was able to say, actually, before I became so weak that blinking pains me and sometimes I fear I may not push myself to breathe in my sleep. _

_Oh, stop looking at me like that, Yero my hero. I don't need those tears. You're scaring me, and you know how I hate being afraid._

_But he can't hear me. I want to tell him that I'm sorry, that I didn't mean to fight him when he told me I was sick. I want to tell him that I love him, that I'm completely aware of the way he cares for me and loves me. It hurts the most when I can't speak because I need to speak. So much of life depends on words, and now I've lost them. Will I lose my life, too?_

_I didn't mean that, Yero, I swear. Oh, forget it! Why am I apologizing to a sleeping oaf?_

_I'm not supposed to think so morbidly. I promised him. But when it's late at night and he's not awake, my thoughts tend to wander. I can't seem to control when I sleep, so I'm often up at nights. But so is he, recently. He's got some way of waking every single hour, checking on me and falling back asleep. I believe he wants to make sure I'm still alive._

_Yes, my hero, I am still alive. I can hear you breathe into my ear as I lie here with my back against your chest, your arms around my waist and that beautiful face buried in my not-so-beautiful hair. Sometimes when you pull away in the mornings, Yero, my hair is wet. Don't cry, my sweet love, please. It makes me nervous, almost on the brink of tears myself, and you know I don't cry often. But it's even worse when I cry, because I'm so numb that, though I expect pain, I'm already in too much of it to feel the burn down my cheeks._

_I can't feel sensation and I can't speak. If I come out of this with just one of the two, I will be forever grateful. Oz forbid I come out of this mute, but if I do, I will find my ways of loving him, as long as I can feel. Without a voice, I can still kiss and love and play, as long as he would still love me. I can bear that much, if I have to. But give me something back. Even if I get better and I can't feel, I would still let him kiss and make love to me, and possibly I would pretend it feels good. He needs that much. I owe him that much. I never thought I'd need someone to take care of me the way he is now, and I never thought there'd be someone to do that even if I did. But my Yero is here, and I wish I could at least tell him I appreciate it._

_Oh, Yero my hero, why is it that when my life becomes good, something falls apart? It only serves right that I should die once everything is happy. Will you love someone when I'm gone, Yero? Will you take care of yourself? You're still young, it's not too late for you._

_But who said it was too late for me? I can do this, I swear. I can't die. Please, I can't die. Things were going so well. I had the only thing I've ever secretly desired and more. I was going to teach people out here not to be ignorant. I was going to do so much. I still have so much I can do. Why? Where is Lurline, or the Unnamed God now? Someone, anyone._

_Don't blame yourself that I'm not getting better, love. I know you do. You're taking care of me better than anyone ever could. You never leave me alone, and in this time and place, I really don't mind. I'm scared now, love. You're all I have and… Nessa and Frex and Nanny don't even know I'm ill. Will they care if I die? Will you have the heart to tell them? How will they mourn? How will you?_

_Stop it. I have to stop this. Damn it, I promised Fiyero. I can't let this keep going like this. Am I crying? Oh, shit, I'm crying. And now he's awake. Please, don't let him look at me… but what else would he wake up for?_

_I see your hand on my forehead, on my wrist, but I don't feel it either time. I want to feel you. I want so much now. So much I may never have again. If I'd have known the last time I kissed you, the last time we made love… No… stop. Now you notice the tears. You touch a finger to the corners of my eyes and wipe them away as gently as you can. Don't bother being gentle, I can't feel more pain than I'm in._

_He's turned on the lights now. I must try to focus my eyes. I want him to know I'm here. I want him to know I love him. I want him to know everything. I can barely follow him as he gets up and crosses to the other side of the bed. He kneels at my side, now. I always hated it when I was dominant._

_You know I'm there, I know you do. Is that a smile? Is that fear? What's in your eyes? It's understanding. Thank you, that's all I need. I think I'll go back to sleep now._


	29. Kumbricia

AN: Another chapter would make your day? Well, I hope this leaves a bit brighter note, even though it's shorter. I think I like it. Major book refrences, though. So I hope you all can get it... you know how often they mention the Kumbric Witch... well, here comes some really odd ideas...

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Kumbricia**

_I need to speak. I'm going crazy in here. Absolutely insane. Why doesn't Fiyero just give up, stop caring for me, and let me die? No one could blame him. But my Yero, ever persistent. He doesn't know when to give up. I love him for it, too._

_Do you hear that? I love you! Of course you don't hear it. But you know. You'd better know. I don't know what I'd do if you didn't. But I do wish you wouldn't push me to live. Don't hate me for it, but I do._

_The doctor was here yesterday. He said he'd only seen one other person fight the battle this long, and they died eventually, anyway. I'll stop fighting soon enough, I believe. It's not that I believe in suicide, but my body can't take much more. Honestly, my mind can't take more either. All of this inability to speak, to feel, to touch… how could someone live like this? I, who have always prided myself on being "numb", lose control now that I am. Maybe I am selfish. But wait, I don't want this life to end only for myself._

_I want it to end for you, Yero. What good am I for you when you sit around and force yourself to take care of me day after day? How can you love when I cannot love you back, in this condition?_

_I am useless, now. I should die, maybe. What good can I do? I cannot help the Animals, cannot help anyone like this. I am a burden. I am the burden of all burdens. I am an active mind with a useless body. And a useless woman to my husband. Yes, I am a burden. _

_If I told you that, you'd deny it vehemently. You'd find some strange and pathetically romantic reason that I should stay alive, mobile and audible or not. But if I were gone, you could find someone, couldn't you? Is your arranged bride gone? Could they find you another? You can't be the king you will be if your queen is forever diseased, can you? I could barely understand why you loved me before, and now I can't begin to grasp it. Though I do believe it. Watching you take care of me, it's one of the few things I will ever believe in, your love for me._

_I once told Boq that I didn't believe in anything, including love. His challenges were foolish. First he brought up Lurlinists and Unionists, and later the other, smaller, less common religions. My only religion now is Fiyero's love. It's dreadfully depressing and dismal, I know. I used to scoff at people who believed in love. It always seemed to fall apart. I'd see the men watch different women each day, or the women become absorbed in themselves. That hasn't happened here, and I don't know why. Perhaps it has yet to come._

_Not that I doubt your devotion at all, oh, hero of mine. I could never. You married me; you chose me; you loved me; you held me; and in what seem to be my darkest days, you've cared for me. But you are a passionate man. Could you not direct that passion to another woman, if I am to die? Would you, for me?_

_I hope he could, because I don't know if I'll make it. I thought I was stronger than this, but I am weak. So much of what I thought of myself has been proven wrong since the beginning of my college years. And he has proved so much of it._

_I've always said I hate it when you prove me wrong. But I do think I love it. If I hated it, I wouldn't have let you take me on that picnic. You've proven to me that I can love, and that someone can love me. You've proven that I was not destined to forever be indifferent, even if the times when joy came end up being as short as these past two years – I can't decide if I love the year before we married or the year we have been married more. Whatever it is, I love you._

_I remember that time I told Boq I didn't believe in anything. When I'd fervently denied everything else, he brought up Kumbricia. Well, yes, I'm aware that some people, in some dark sect of the world, and in the outer parts of Oz (maybe even near the Vinkus), worship Kumbricia rather than Lurline or the Unnamed God._

"_Yes, of course. I'll believe in that as soon as I am happy, Boq. Prove to me I can be more like others, love and smile like others, and I'd be content. I want to be selfish. I want so much more than these well-meant good deeds and deadly sins. I'd believe in her, I'd be her damned priestess if she'd send me something, something undeniably good." I told him._

_That was the day before you walked into life sciences, actually._

_Now that I think about it, hasn't Fiyero been something undeniably good in my life?_

_Kumbricia, I believe, save me now._


	30. Giving Thanks

**Chapter Thirty: Giving Thanks**

Had he dreamed it? Was she lying beside him, still motionless and in pain? Well, that much, of course. But he could swear… but it had been late. How could he know?

He'd woken to check on her, as he did every hour, and she was looking at him with that sadness he'd come to recognize, that sadness it killed him to see. Gently, he'd taken one of her hands in his and kissed it. Before letting go, he was almost positive her grip had tightened somewhat. Maybe he only wanted her to get better so badly that he had imagined something, anything that pointed away from the path towards death she seemed to be headed down.

Finally pulling his face out of the silken texture of her hair, he took his hands from her waist and sat up. He watched her blink and tried to smile, for her comfort, but he hadn't smiled since the day she'd stopped speaking.

All at once, her lips parted and she pushed air through in an "f" sound.

"Don't speak. Please." He was amazed she had opened her mouth without help. "Do you want me to smooth the oils on you, now?"

There was no answer. He hadn't expected one. And those eyes were trying to say so much more than "yes" or "no".

"All right." He reached towards the bedside table and grabbed the bottle he kept. With as much caution as he could, he poured the thick liquid onto his hands and slid his hands over her stomach, her legs, whatever he could. He tried very hard not to think of where his hands were. Finally placing the oils back on the table, he said, "There you go. Feel better?" He felt like an idiot, talking to someone who may never answer.

Her tongue came out between her teeth and before he could stop her, she'd pushed out, "Thank you."

"Fae?" He stared, startled.

A smile played at her lips. She'd expressed as much as she could have in two syllables. She didn't attempt to speak again until the next day, when she ventured for three words.

The doctor had been in and out again, insisting that, though her fever had gone down half a degree, there was still most likely little hope. Fiyero had been horrified that the man had dared to say that in front of the quiet but very attentive Elphaba. He stared out the door as the man walked down the hall to the stairs. "I won't let you die like this," he whispered. With a heavy sigh, he moved back to the bed and dabbed the blanket at the tears in her eyes. She'd only become sensitive in her weakness.

"I love you." She forced out desperately. "Yero, I love…"

"No. Please don't tell me that." He shook his head. "Don't waste the energy. I know you do. And I love you, too." Cradling her like a child (though he knew she'd protest if she could), he brought his lips to her forehead. "I could swear you're a little less feverish."

"I want… before I…"

"No! You are not going to die, damn it!" He read the intention of the short phrases she'd emitted without difficulty. Softening his voice some, he murmured, "Please don't die." In more than two months, she'd been so sick she couldn't speak. Now she had whispered ten words in a day. Was it a miracle or was it close to the end?

"Fiyero," she begged. "Listen."

"You're going to talk if it kills you." He rolled his eyes.

"Talking will not kill me," she ventured.

"Keep talking. How are you talking?"

"Just… little words, please?"

"No more questions, I guess. Say what you wanted. I'm here."

There was a faint shake of her head. "Tired."

"All that talking wore you out."

"You."

"Don't you start that with me."

She loved that he knew what she was saying with so few words. "Won't."

"Good. Do you think you're getting better?" Only her opinion told him the answer, no doctor could decide.

"Don't know."

"I understand. I'll get you back to sleep. You were only up for ten minutes."

"Whatever."

And so she spoke little things each day, tried to move more each day. Fiyero would not let her attempt to walk, at first. In response, Elphaba, a good two weeks better, strained herself into a sitting position on the bed next to him, and then climbed on top of him. He was alarmed by now, but Elphaba was smiling sweetly. "Fae, we can't… you're still…"

"That's not what I was planning." Roughly, she kicked him in the shin.

"Fae!"

"Let me walk, damn it!" Still not of the energy to hop to her feet, she crawled slowly off of him and made to lower her feet to the ground.

"No!" She was not yet at her quickest, and he caught her wrist and pulled her back with the force of an arm. "Please. I've let you talk. Is that not enough?"

"It's not. I've been talking for almost two weeks now."

"I let you sit up. I let you move around. I'm just worried, okay?"

"Fine. Give me something to do." She folded her arms and stared at him with her challenge.

"We haven't talked that much."

"I haven't?"

"_We_ haven't." As tenderly as he could, he hugged her. "Do you have any idea how scared I was?"

"We have to talk about this?" She was hesitant to admit that she, too, had been scared. She'd planned on telling him some things, maybe even treating him differently, but she hadn't found the words yet. Lovingly, she brushed her lips against his cheek and hid her face in his neck.

"We do, Fae." He lifted her chin and looked at her curiously. "Why not?"

"Nothing. I hate it when you get all… funny about it."

"I didn't want you to die, Fae. Isn't that normal? If I were you, I'd worry if I hadn't acted the way I did."

"You took care of me," she said softly.

"Well, as best as I could." He shrugged.

"You could have had a servant do it."

"If… if you… and I wasn't there…" He looked away.

"Yero my hero," she whispered, "It's okay. I think I'm going to be okay now."

"I don't know what I would've done if you turned the wrong way."

"Neither do I." She stared at him. "You really took care of me, though. No one's ever taken care of me the way you did, Fiyero. No one's ever loved me like you did."

"Like I _do_." He corrected.

She smiled. "Thank you so much. I was conscious for more than you think I was. I saw you cry. I hated it, but I saw it. And… I was terrified, too. I didn't want to die. I was lying there, silent, but my mind was screaming. I even prayed."

"You? Prayed? To who?"

"You'll laugh." She flushed.

"No, really."

"I'm going to tell you a story, first. Okay? A long time ago, before you were at Shiz, I challenged a certain religious figure to give me something undeniably good. Two days later, a boy with the most gorgeous blue diamonds painted on his stunning dark skin, walked into my life. Since then, that boy, a man, now, has been nothing but undeniably good to me. And I love you."

"Fae," he didn't understand, she could see it. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I was blessed with you, Fiyero, by some figure that I never worshipped or devoted myself to in return. And because I acknowledged that, I survived that sickness. Not only am I going to teach people not to be ignorant bigots out here, I'm also going to bring a certain religious faith."

"What would your father think, to hear you speak this way? Or Nessa?"

"They'd kill me. It's not the Unnamed God."

"Lurline, then?"

She laughed. "No, my Yero, Kumbricia."


	31. Kumbricia on Love, Sex & Adultery

**Chapter Thirty-One: Kumbricia on Love, Sex and Adultery**

Elphaba wiggled contentedly in Fiyero's arms. "Yero my hero, I don't remember it being _that_ good."

He looked at her against the rising sun and smiled. "We've been up all night."

"We have, haven't we?" She grinned and nuzzled her head against his chest, pulling the blanket up to cover them. "You know what I like most about when we make love, Fiyero?"

"All of it?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I do enjoy all of it. But some parts are more enjoyable than others."

"I think I could've guessed that, based on how you cry out more at certain times."

"Not that! Well, yes, that. But not that, completely. On nights like this, when it's been a long time, or we're just really energetic…"

"It's been a very long time, Fae. And it would've been longer had you not touched me."

"I've been walking for a while, now. What makes you think sex is going to kill me?"

"I just… I needed to be sure. I'm going to be very careful with you, Fae. I can't lose you. I was watching you closely the entire time."

"You what? Even when we were kissing? You kept your eyes open?" Elphaba sat up and glared at him, horrified.

"Well, I…" Fiyero flushed darker than usual. "Just go back to what you were saying about what you like the most."

Elphaba rolled her eyes but leaned back down and rested her head on his chest. "I like it when it's over after the first time that night, and we almost _know_ we're going to do it again, but we're waiting until we've gotten our energy back and all, and I'm lying here, and you're kissing me, and touching me, still. You never expect me to pleasure you in between, but you always do things for me."

"You've been raised in a world where a woman's pleasure doesn't matter. It's not like that so much out here. The only thing missing out here, for most couples, isn't good sex, it's love. I'm always going to hold and kiss you afterwards. Always. Whether we do it again that night or not, which, as we get a bit more mature about things, will most likely be not. That doesn't mean I'm just going to take you, roll over, ignore you and fall asleep."

"We're not like most couples out here, are we?" She knew the answer.

"No. It's different, because I love you and you love me. We chose each other. That happens out here, too, but not as often. There aren't many people to choose from."

"Why not mate with other tribes?" Elphaba propped her head up and glanced at him.

"Well, for a long time, we were constantly at war with other tribes. Recently, our relations with them have been a bit better. There are friendships between them, never marriages."

"Do you think that could change?"

"Maybe. Are you planning on doing something about it?"

"Well, if I'm going to teach people to accept Animals, I may as well teach them to accept each other."

"What does Kumbricia say about accepting people?"

"I don't know. There's only one book, the Kumbricia bible. It says to accept all people, I guess. It doesn't say not to."

"What does it say about having sex without the intention of having children?" Fiyero knew that, in Lurlinist religion, women were never supposed to have taken any method of birth control. It was frowned upon in Unionism, too.

"Actually," Elphaba would not make eye contact, "it's fairly odd. Fornication isn't even frowned upon."

"I wish you'd found this religion before we married."

"Fiyero!" She poked him fiercely in the rib. "It was better this way, at least for us. Why don't you ask me what Kumbricia says about adultery?"

"Why?" Fiyero narrowed his eyes. Of course, he knew she had done nothing, for he'd spent every moment awake with her.

"Because I'm being spiteful."

"What does it say?"

"There's actually quite a lot about sex. Adultery is fine as long as you love the person and they love you and you don't really love your spouse. But that won't be a problem, here. Because I love you."

"And I love you. I don't know about you, especially considering what you just said, but nothing will ever make me unfaithful to you."

"And the same with me, Fiyero. How could you second guess my love for you like that?" She sighed and kissed his chin. "You are… everything to me. I do hate to admit it, but I'd have come out here and married you even if I'd be sitting around being a housewife day after day, because I loved you that much."

This genuinely surprised him. "Really?"

"I don't know, truly. But I know I would, now. After the way you took care of me before, Fiyero, I don't know how I couldn't love you. If it is possible for me to love you more than I did when I married you, I do."

She'd never been this gentle, this honest about feelings that could in some way make her vulnerable, and he loved her all the more for it. "Fae, I… I don't know. I've said I love you, I've said it so many times, but it's more than that, it's… I don't know. You can't even imagine how I feel about you, sometimes… no, all the time. When I thought you might die, I considered suicide…"

"You did not!" Elphaba's eyes widened.

"I did."

"Kumbricia religion is against suicide, I'll have you know." She scolded.

"I don't care what anyone says! I cannot live, sanely, without you." He pulled her close. "I can't. The thought of it scares me beyond belief. Life without you… I'd never handle it, Fae. Never."

"You really love me like that?" She shuddered in his arms and stared in wonder.

"Yes, I do. Of course I do. Why?"

"How? How can anyone love me like that? I understand that you love me. But loving me to the point of… that… to allowing yourself to need me so much you'd die for me, that's not the way I ever thought someone would love me."

"It's why I married you." He couldn't understand how love could be anything else. "Isn't that the way you feel about me?"

She bit her lip. "Fiyero… the way I feel about you… if I were to have to chose my life or yours, I'd chose yours. I'd rather die than go on living without you. But one of us is going to die before the other, aren't we? It happens all the time. If this feeling is what love is, why doesn't every person kill his or herself when their love dies?"

"Because they don't know they've never had it. They may care for someone, Fae, but some people don't love with the strength we do."

"I thought only I loved like that."

"I do, too."

"It's a scary feeling, isn't it?"

He nodded. "You don't know how bad it is. If I ever got that close to dying, maybe you'd know. But you can never know the anguish…"

"Oh, Yero my hero," she curled herself up in a ball and began to cry.

"Fae! Don't do that! What on earth are you crying for?"

She laughed through her tears pathetically. "Because I love you."


	32. Behind Closed Doors

**Chapter Thirty-Two: Behind Closed Doors**

And so Fiyero and Elphaba began preparing for "the school year". Fiyero sent out notices to all the huts around, and Elphaba began working on what she was to teach. She had decided to teach only five through ten year olds, as they were most impressionable and she could not handle teens.

Elphaba's first problem was books. They had no textbooks. Quickly, though, Elphaba began sitting down for hours each night writing what she deemed to be important in the science, math, writing and history into one large textbook, which she had no way of copying, which became her next problem. When she asked Fiyero what she should do, he suggested she simply re-copy what she'd written. It would go by much quicker when she'd already done it once.

And so, with Fiyero's help, she copied quickly – but never sloppily – the words she had written and, when finished, had copied fifteen books. This was probably not enough, but she would have to make due. Students could share.

Fiyero then brought up that she had no way of spreading the Kumbricia religion. She couldn't very well teach the Kumbricia bible in class, and didn't she want older converts, too?

"I very well can teach it in class. Yes, I want older converts, but we'll see. I think we'll have a sort of meeting night, spread information about it, and see what happens. What's most important to me, Fiyero, is that I follow it."

Fiyero shrugged. "Whatever you say, my Kumbrician priestess."

She looked at him, not sure what to make of the nickname. "If you call me that in bed, I will kill you." She decided.

"You wouldn't kill me," he retorted, "you love me too much."

"Fine," she acknowledged, rolling her eyes and closing her books, "but I will deprive you of sex."

"I knew that was coming." Fiyero grunted. "But I think you couldn't keep it back any more than I can. So, we won't be worrying about that. Besides, I won't call you that… well, not in bed, at least, if you don't like it."

Elphaba jumped a little when she felt Fiyero's hands on her shoulders. "Thanks, I think."

"Speaking of bed, it's getting late. The servants are probably asleep already." He kneeled at her side and held a hand out. "My beautiful Kumbrician priestess, will you join me in our bed?"

"As long as you stop calling me that the minute we get there, fine." She took it and wrapped her arms around him as they stood together. Kissing him heatedly, she giggled and pulled back to look at him as he stumbled towards the door of the study. "A little distracted, my prince?"

"Only by you," he smiled and carried her up the stairs, dropping her smoothly to her feet as soon as they got to the landing. He slipped a hand under her blouse as they made their way towards their bedroom, kissing and laughing.

When he tugged at her skirt, Elphaba gasped and pulled him down the hallway. "Must get to the bedroom, first," she pleaded. They were two steps from the doorway when Fiyero pressed her to the wall and started nipping at her neck. "Yero…" She blinked, feeling his knee slid under her skirt and between her thighs. "Yero!" Her hands slipped down and began unbuttoning his pants. "I want…" she sighed, "you… in me… now!"

The doorway beside them opened and Fiyero's mother, weary and dreary eyed, yawned as she exited the bathroom. She cleared her throat, thanking Oz the castle was thick stone, and that she hadn't heard their previous activity though the broad walls.

Elphaba yanked her hands from the depths of her husband's trousers, blushing fiercely. "I'm sorry," she grabbed Fiyero's hand and steered him towards their bedroom, "we…"

Fiyero's mother, not wanting to hear anymore, waved them into the darkness of the room and turned to go back to bed.

Her husband looked up when she came into the room. "The door was only halfway closed, what are they doing out there?"

Laughing, she climbed into bed. "Things they shouldn't be doing in the hallway nearest our bathroom, which is why I sent them into their room."

"We need to keep that door closed. I've heard more than enough from just the few times you leave it open and he carries her to bed."

Wrapping the blanket around her, she said, "They're young. Let it pass."

"How is she not pregnant by now?" He wondered aloud.

"She confided in me that she's on birth control. They don't want children right away like we did. Who can blame them, if this is what comes of it? I certainly don't want to wake up, forty-three years old, have to go to the bathroom, and come out to find my son with his wife's blouse removed and her hand in his pants. Who'd want that? Maybe they're smarter than we think."

"I don't think they're thinking very much right now." He mumbled, turning over to fall asleep.

An hour later, Elphaba groaned. "She saw us."

Fiyero, holding her in his arms, as always, said, "What?"

"Your mother. And my hands…"

"Your hands were only where I wanted them to be. Well, maybe not. Because when your hands are there, it makes it a bit harder for your…"

"Shut up. What must she be thinking?"

"By now? She's probably fast asleep." Fiyero stroked Elphaba's hair gently. "Relax, Fae, we're married. She's got to know we have sex."

"She's your mother! I don't think she needed to see what she saw."

"She's lucky she didn't see us two minutes later, then," he replied teasingly.

"Oh, Yero my hero, if that ever happens again, I don't know what I'll do." Elphaba shook her head and then rested back against Fiyero. "We need to wait until we get in here."

"Where's the fun in that?"

She elbowed him in the abdomen. "Not having to see your mother looking at us the way she looked at us. Fiyero, as much fun as it was aside from that, it was incredibly embarrassing to be caught touching you where I was touching you in front of your mother!" Elphaba exclaimed, rolling over and burying her head in a pillow.

In the morning, at breakfast, the younger children chatted happily, as usual, but there was a silence among the adults that was more than unusual. Whenever Fiyero's eldest sister, whose husband sat shyly beside her, tried to make conversation, Elphaba or Fiyero would ignore it, and "the parents" would just nod. After breakfast, Fiyero drew Elphaba to him and said, "Let's take a walk."

"Actually, we'd like to talk to you two for a moment, if that's all right." Fiyero's mother said softly, but with enough force to show that she was serious, as she glanced towards her husband.

As the servants cleared the plates and everyone else went of to what looked like a somewhat happier start of the day, the four of them drifted towards the sitting room and took seats. Elphaba looked at Fiyero guiltily and then stared towards the pillows, as if they were suddenly the most interesting things she'd ever seen. Fiyero, a bit bolder, still, slipped an arm around Elphaba's waist, keeping her rooted to him, and nudged her head so she looked at him. She only gulped and slipped her gaze to her hands.

"Last night," Fiyero's mother began.

"I'm sorry." Elphaba said quickly. "We didn't mean to do that where we were. We'd… we'd gotten that close to our room, and we were almost there…" Her face was burning. She mumbled something about "just getting excited".

Fiyero's father chuckled and then caught his tongue after a glare from his wife. Turning to Fiyero, he said, "Look, we understand that. But it could have just as easily been one of your little siblings and not your mother. What would they think, seeing your wife caressing you, you kissing her heavily, both of you bare above the waist?"

Elphaba's eyes widened and Fiyero bit his lip, watching her.

"The display I encountered last night was incredibly inappropriate for anything but inside the closed doors of your bedroom. I don't care what you do in there – you two are happily married – but you absolutely cannot take that anywhere else where you could be seen. There are children in this home, for Oz's sake!"

Quietly, Elphaba said, "We should have known better. M'am, I promise it won't happen again."

"I want to hear that from my son more than I want to hear it from you." Fiyero's father grumbled.

Fiyero tightened the arm around Elphaba. "We promise. I'm sorry, mom, dad, I just… I love her so much… we got carried away."

"You most certainly did. Don't use love as an excuse. What I saw last night was not a product of love as much as it was lust. I don't doubt your love for one another, but you need to keep it in its place. Do what you want as much as you wish, just keep it behind closed doors."

That night, when Fiyero reached for Elphaba again, they'd both made sure the doors were closed indeed.


	33. Girl Talk

**Chapter Thirty-Three: Girl Talk**

Elphaba could not stand the way Fiyero's mother had been looking at her. Every day, if she happened to say something at breakfast, or if she passed her in the stone hallways, there'd be a look. Elphaba could tell Fiyero's mother was still scorning her, and probably Fiyero, too, for what they'd done. She understood that what they'd done was wrong, but she could not take the glances anymore.

Elphaba shuffled quietly into the sitting room, where she knew Fiyero's mother was. "Um…"

The elder woman looked up, a slight disdaining gaze in her eyes. "Yes, Elphaba?"

"May I sit down?" She asked nervously.

"Go ahead. Is something wrong?" With a closer look at Elphaba as she sat down, she asked, "You're not pregnant, are you?"

Elphaba shook her head vigorously. "No. Fiyero and I are going to wait for a little while for that; I think I told you."

"You did. But decisions change or accidents happen." The woman shrugged. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about, then?"

Elphaba took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about what you saw Fiyero and me doing. I know we've already talked about it, but I don't feel like you've forgiven us… or me. We were going upstairs, it was very late. I kissed him and he kept touching me, though I told him we had to get to our room. The next thing I know, I'm up against the wall and he's all over me," _as usual_, she thought to herself, biting back a smile, "the first thing that came to my confused mind was to respond. Honestly, I know I should've known better, and a split second later, I probably would have come to my senses. It… I know it looked like it was all me, because of…" She was flushing darker, if possible, now. "Because of where my hands were. And my hands shouldn't have been where they were in the middle of the upstairs hallway. Your son is a very, um, passionate man, and sometimes he loses control, taking me along with him."

Fiyero's mother nodded. "You're right. It did look like it was all very much your doing. I did think it your fault, though my husband sensed it was my son's, as you noticed by the way he talked to the two of you. I would have to guess that he knows that part of my son better than I would, wouldn't he, being a man?"

Elphaba giggled and then bit it back. "I guess so."

"And maybe it isn't fair of us to expect you two to hide these things. You've been married less than a year, and most couples wouldn't have to worry about who watched them at that point, because they'd be living on their own. Maybe we should've discussed that with you before."

It was Elphaba's turn to shrug. "It's fine. We should've been a bit more discreet. I just wanted you to understand a little more."

"I do." Fiyero's mother smiled at her. "Men can be… a little intense sometimes, can't they?"

"A little." Elphaba smiled.

"Well, whatever happened, I'm glad you're enjoying marriage."

"Why wouldn't I?" Elphaba asked, surprised. "I love Fiyero."

"Of course. Sometimes I almost forget how different your circumstances are from mine."

"Your marriage was arranged, wasn't it?"

"Yes. And, though I've come to love my husband, I can't say I enjoyed the first years very much."

"But aren't those supposed to be the best years?"

"It took me some time to really care for my husband. I tried, but it was forced for a long time. To me, that first year or so was just boredom and uncomfortable sex."

Elphaba stared at the floor. "Oh."

"The men in this family have the somewhat discomforting trait of, well, I'm sure you know…"

Elphaba simply shook her head and would not raise her gaze from the floor.

Fiyero's mother sighed and touched Elphaba's shoulder gently. "Come on, you can talk to me. You're my daughter-in-law, after all."

"Well, honestly, I had no idea what you're talking about."

"You do, but you don't want to think that's what I'm talking about. What I was trying to say was that the men in this family happen to have very large… male parts…"

Elphaba choked and drew her knees up to her chest.

"Calm down. It's just girl talk, here."

Elphaba dropped her knees, though she wouldn't look at the woman.

Fiyero's mother smiled knowingly. "I'm not going to judge you because you have sex with my son every night. For Oz's sake, you're married. I'd worry if you didn't. But the last female above the age of fourteen who I talked to got married and moved out of the castle. Besides, we're family. We're both girls, there's nothing you have to hide."

Elphaba took a deep breath. She'd never had a mother to talk to about "girl stuff", or about sex. "Still… Fiyero's your son."

"Exactly. Which makes you close enough to being my daughter. I'm sorry for blaming you about that little… display with my son. If I'd ever been that young and in love at the same time, Oz knows I might've behaved that way."

"I know you want me to be comfortable with you, but I'm not one to talk about that sort of thing with anyone. I barely talked to my best friend about it. I'd happily discuss anything else you wish to talk about, though," Elphaba offered.

"I understand. You should hear some of the village women talking about their husbands, though. It is… amusing, to say the least. Anyway, I know it must be difficult living with my son. I can put up with his odd behavior because he's my son, but how can someone else?"

"Easy. I love him. He's a good man, even if he's a bit… needy."

"Needy, he is. He was a mommy's boy until he went off to college."

"And then he was fine, for some time, until he attached himself to me. Why he chose me, I'll never understand. I know he loves me, but he's so affectionate at times that it makes me nervous."

"He wants to do everything for you."

"And he does. I'm not the sort of person who'd even allow that sort of exhibition of feelings, but it's so sweet…"

"Fae!" Fiyero wandered into the room and sat down next to Elphaba. "You got up without me. You know I can't sleep once you've gotten up."

"I don't know how you'll survive if we're separated for more than twenty-four hours, Yero." Elphaba rolled her eyes. "I've been up long enough, anyway. Where have you been?"

"Looking for you. There are several places I would've guessed you'd be before I checked here." Fiyero put an arm around Elphaba, brought her closer, and kissed her temple. "You know I can't function without you."

Elphaba pushed Fiyero away good-naturedly. "I know you love me, but I think you should be able to live without me for at least small periods of time, Fiyero."

"Not when I don't have to," he protested, gathering her into his arms. It seemed he only noticed his mother after confirming that he had Elphaba. "Hey, Mom."

"Good morning, honey." She stood. "Look, I've got to go make sure the servants are making breakfast. Sometimes, if I don't remind them, they sleep in." She gave one last glance to Elphaba. "If you ever want to talk, Elphaba, you're welcome to come to me."

"What would she need you for? She has me and she can tell me everything." Fiyero argued.

Elphaba smiled at him helplessly and buried her face in his neck. "Well, almost anything."


	34. Overprotective

AN: Okay, because this chapter is longer, it took longer. It also took longer because I have HUGE plans for this story and I wanted to get them all worked out before starting ANYTHING. It also took longer because, for a prize for a contest, I said I'd write a Fiyeraba fanfic if someone would give me some plot/ideas I hadn't done yet, and they did. So I have another one in the works, almost at the end of chapter one, and that shall also be posted soon. Feel free to read, enjoy, review, and guess about my huge plans.

**THANK YOU IAMTHEWITCH! **I've wanted to say that for a while, but I keep forgetting. She is seriously, like, my editor. She rocks my socks off!

**Chapter Thirty-Four: Overprotective**

Elphaba groaned as she woke up, carefully lifting Fiyero's arms from around her. She did not want to wake him, though she knew he wouldn't sleep very much longer; he really could sense when she was gone. He liked sleeping late, but he would either have to learn to wake earlier or get used to sleeping without her if that was going to continue. The "school year" had begun.

The sun had barely risen, but she had much to do this first day. Yawning and stretching, she stood up and climbed out of the bed, glancing at the window. She reached for the oils on the bedside table, and almost shrieked when she found another hand reach at the same moment.

"I'm not going to like you waking this early, am I?" Fiyero grumbled, wiping his eyes of sleep and sliding himself out of bed. "Here, I'll help." He began unscrewing the glass bottle.

"No," Elphaba swiped it from him. "Every time you do that, we end up having sex. I can't afford to lose that time today."

"But I want…"

"Fiyero, you always want. Not this morning, all right? I'm sorry, love, but maybe if you hadn't fallen asleep so quickly last night we could've then, but you were exhausted. Tonight, okay?"

"It's not my fault! You had me running around following you in the damn forests all day."

"You could've said you were tired." And that was the end of that.

As she was leaving, towards the large hut they'd built halfway between the middle of the village and the castle, Fiyero caught her wrist. "I'll come."

"Fiyero, no. You cannot - simply cannot - be around me every moment of every day. You know I love you and love being around you, but some things have to be done without you. I don't need you there while I'm trying to meet the children and teach. Honestly, Fiyero, get a grip!" She snapped, swishing her cloaks and stomping away.

He stared after her, not necessarily shocked, for she got fed up with him this way quite often, but confused. Though, he supposed she was right, after all. He very well couldn't go with her. It was best he stayed home and began learning the politics of the kingdom with his father, of course. He could handle a few hours each day, couldn't he?

Elphaba let her anger simmer down through the day, hoping she would no longer be angry with him when she returned. She sighed, watching young children amble into the classroom. Waiting until a little after the time specified and feeling the schoolhouse was decently filled, she stood up in front of the classroom with a pad of paper and a pen, asking each student his or her name and greeting each of them. Knowing that it was standard for teachers or professors to go by their last names and hating what was standard, not to mention that her last name also made her seem more like a wife, half of a person, when she wanted to remain individual, she told them to call her "Miss Elphie" because some of the younger ones couldn't quite pronounce "Elphaba".

When one is green and wants to be thought of as individual, unassociated with anyone else, that's not a problem. However, when one is green and the entire tribe is aware that the crown prince's wife is green, there is no stopping them from staring in awe – not because of skin color, but because of marital status. Even the youngest understand the respect that is required when in the presence of royalty, which is exactly what Elphaba had been trying to avoid.

After she had introduced herself, one boy, looking about the age of nine, asked, "Aren't you married to Prince Fiyero?"

Elphaba sighed, putting down her papers behind her desk. "Well, yes. But in this building I want you to forget that."

"So we're not supposed to be respectful?" Asked a girl of seven.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "You are supposed to be respectful to any adult who is in charge of you; however, you don't have to treat me like you would treat Prince Fiyero if you were visiting the castle." She left it at that, hoping they would understand. For the rest of the day, she passed out books (she had three leftover as there were only twelve students) and had them draw pictures of their families.

There was one girl, Drienna, five years old, who asked many questions of her, but never stupid or irritating questions. She was genuinely curious and ready to learn. Elphaba knew that this girl would be the type of student she would come to love.

She was collecting the drawings when the mothers of her students came to pick up their children. Several of them stayed for a few minutes and asked the standard question or two, but most were intimidated by her status and left quickly.

Elphaba was agitated and resented her marriage to Fiyero for the way people reacted to it. She wished she didn't have to be so… noticeable. She was about to sit down in her chair for a moment alone, but she realized the last mother had yet to leave with her six-year-old son and Drienna was standing in the middle of the room, looking somewhat forlorn.

Before Elphaba said anything, the last mother crouched down to Drienna and whispered gently, "Do you want us to walk you home like we walked you here this morning?"

The little girl shook her head, black pigtail braids swishing madly. "My father said he would pick me up."

"And I did, didn't I?"

Elphaba glanced towards the doorway, meeting eyes with an Arjiki man – everyone else who had picked up a child had been female – with light green markings on his skin. He had circles rather than diamonds, and not nearly as elegant as Fiyero's, for he wasn't royalty. She wondered why some adults had different colored or shaped markings. Was it status?

Smiling at him, the other woman shook his hand. "I know you did, I was just concerned. Everyone else has already picked up their kids."

"And left already? I would think people would be a bit more curious about the school," he glanced around and his gaze settled on Elphaba, "and the teacher."

Elphaba flushed and glanced down. The last drawing she had collected was Drienna's, and it was pathetically small compared to the others. Most children had at least two siblings, and there had been five people in the majority of the pictures, if not more. However, here were two stick figures, one with a skirt to represent a female and a much taller one that Elphaba assumed was her father. It was drawn to represent nighttime, and in the star at the very top left corner, Elphaba noticed another stick figure, also female. Realizing what this meant, she shook her head sadly and placed the pile on the table, shuffling it so the little girl's didn't stand out. She walked towards the doorway and stood two feet from Drienna's father, sticking out her hand for him to shake. "Elphaba."

He refrained from touching her hand. "Princess Elphaba, isn't it? You are Crown Prince Fiyero's wife, correct?"

Elphaba bit back a smarmy remark and pushed a smile. "Yes. However, I don't think that just because I ended up marrying someone who happens to be of high status means that I should have to be regarded as 'Princess'. I utterly detest the word. It's childish." She knew not to direct her anger of her treatment towards Fiyero, but towards the rule or law that deemed she should be treated in such a way. It was true that royalty required respect, but she was not even twenty-two and unused to the prospect.

"Well, then, Elphaba, it's nice to meet you. I'm Kalendrio, Drienna's father." He took her hand at last and shook it amiably.

The woman who'd offered to walk Drienna home curtseyed slightly, unable to forget Elphaba's status, and said, "I'm Liana, Herndon's mother." She gestured to the boy who was grasping her skirts and tugging at them as she swatted him. "I live next door to Kalendrio."

Elphaba nodded understandingly. "I'm glad to meet the both of you."

Kalendrio stepped further inside and leaned against the wall near the door, "So," he began, "what are you planning on teaching? I took some school once, a long time ago. I learned to read and I have a few books at home – not much, though. I was an only child and my parents were once royal advisors, so I was a bit privileged."

"At this point I'm teaching basic reading and math skills. I hope to move on to the more complicated subjects eventually. It all depends on the students and their patience and willingness to learn. Your daughter seems very bright and enthusiastic, actually. She's young and it helps to teach her things now, you know?" Elphaba looked at the little girl who had now sat down and opened her worn woven bag and taken out drawing materials. Her eyes were focus on the paper and she wore a stern look of concentration that was almost humorous on such a small girl.

When Elphaba had told this to the women who had asked previously, they hadn't understood her reasoning for teaching such young children. She'd tried to explain that things learned younger tend to stay imprinted in the mind, but no one had understood. Kalendrio, however, said, "Right, she's more capable of retaining certain knowledge."

_Finally,_ she longed to say,_ someone other than those dreadfully stupid housewives who actually has some sort of intelligence! _She dared not say it in Liana's presence, though, for she seemed to be one of those housewives. But it was true, with only a few people to talk to, Fiyero being the only educated one among them, she was beyond bored. So she hoped this strange but somewhat knowledgeable man would pick up his child and stop to talk daily. "Exactly!"

Liana looked ready to leave but Kalendrio looked ready to stay for a chat, which excited Elphaba. However, the prospect of all of this died when another figure appeared in the doorway and caused Liana to gasp and curtsey quickly. Kalendrio spotted the figure a moment later and bowed hurriedly. "Your Highness."

Well, she should have figured. Half an hour after the time she estimated she'd be back at the castle, Fiyero showed up. He nodded briefly at the two other adults in the room and made a beeline straight towards Elphaba, wrapping his arms around her protectively after a second glace at Kalendrio. His arms were so tight she choked and swatted at him, "Fiyero!"

He loosened his grip, only slightly. "Sorry, love." He tilted her face towards his. "I was just making sure you were all right. You said you'd probably be back a little while ago…"

"It's the first day! People are going to stop and talk to me after class." She was ready to start a full-fledged argument and then realized this was not the time or place. "But that's all right," she sighed helplessly, "you're just being you."

"Am I ever anyone else?" He smiled, the sweetness and sincerity in the gesture ebbing off her anger a little at a time. "So…" He motioned to the two adults and one child (he couldn't see Herndon, because the boy had promptly hidden himself behind his mother's skirts the minute Fiyero had come in).

Elphaba straightened herself out. "Oh! Of course! Fiyero, this is Liana and her son…" She realized the boy had disappeared and gave Liana a curious look.

"Herndon, stop hiding!" Liana tugged the boy out from behind her by the forearm.

Elphaba chuckled lightly. "This is Liana and her son Herndon, and that's Kalendrio. The cute little girl who has barely even noticed you in the middle of the floor would be Drienna."

At her name Drienna looked up. Seeing Fiyero, she dropped her coloring materials and stood, attempting a curtsey.

Elphaba bit back a smile. "And, though all of you already know, this is Prince Fiyero, my irritatingly overprotective and attached husband."

"Fae!" He let go of her at last.

"I'm teasing," she chided gently.

Kalendrio began packing Drienna up again. "Well, we'd better get going."

Liana nodded and dragged Herndon out the door towards the village. "Until tomorrow. Goodbye, Your Highness," she did another curtsey and fled.

Drienna was packed now and standing looking up at her father. Kalendrio smiled at Elphaba lightly, "I guess we'll see you tomorrow." Gaze turning serious when he turned to Fiyero, he said, "Goodbye, Your Highness." With a bow, he was gone, too.

Elphaba stood, staring out the door and feeling Fiyero's hands on her shoulders, wondering why she was feeling such a powerful anger and regret.


	35. Give it time

**Chapter Thirty-Five: Give it time**

Fiyero slipped his arm around her waist possessively as they walked home. "How'd it go?"

She looked at him, trying to be angry, trying to be forgiving, wondering if she had any right to be mad that he had shown up. He didn't know that people were intimidated; he couldn't have helped it. Looking up at his face, she hated that she couldn't find the resentment to be angry with him. Instead, she leaned into him a little and replied, "Fine."

"That's good. Any aspiring pupils?"

"Yeah. That little girl you saw, Drienna."

"Where is her mother?"

"What do you mean?" Elphaba cocked her head.

"Well, her mother should've been the one to pick her up. The women take care of the children."

Elphaba wrenched out of his grasp. "That's a bit sexist…"

"I didn't say it was right," he coaxed gently.

"Well, it's not! I'll teach that, too."

"You sure plan on making a lot of changes. Don't you think it's better you do one thing at a time, Fae?" He was not much put off by her pulling away; he simply took her hand and intertwined their fingers.

She nodded. "True."

"So, where is her mother?" He pressed.

"I think she's dead." Elphaba said softly.

"How?"

"I don't know! I certainly wasn't going to ask the poor child!"

"Didn't you ask her father?"

"He'd only been there about a minute before you came in and scared them all away."

"What?" Fiyero stopped and looked at her.

"Fiyero, your status," she corrected herself, "_our_ status threatens them. They're not used to seeing royalty outside of the castle, I guess. I'd just barely gotten them used to me, and then you walk in, the Crown Prince himself. The next closest thing to the king. How often does your father go out and talk to the people?"

"Not enough. I was actually thinking about that. How can one be a good ruler when one barely associates with his people?"

She smiled, thanking Oz she didn't have to tell him everything that was wrong. He saw right from wrong that same way that she did, even if he wasn't as passionate about it. Reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, she kissed him. "That's a good question. Talk to your father about it. Now, come on."

They started walking again and he stole an arm around her waist once more. She didn't protest, tamed for the moment, and hummed to herself. Near the doors of the castle, he cut her off with a very deep kiss. "Fae," he grinned at her.

She laughed lightly but denied him, taking a step back. "I know what you're thinking. After dinner. I want to get a few things done right now, okay?"

"How about you get those things done after dinner?"

"No. Because then I'll be too exhausted," she replied with raised eyebrows. "I'm sorry. I'm going to head into the study for a bit, okay?"

"I'll come with. I've got nothing better to do until dinner, anyway."

She rolled her eyes but allowed him to follow her. Curling up in a chair and examining the children's drawings, she took notes on a small pad of paper that she'd taken attendance and ages with. When she got halfway through, to the spot she'd stuffed Drienna's drawing, she found it difficult to concentrate. It wasn't that Fiyero was staring at her. After her life, Oz only knew she was used to being stared at. It was the way Fiyero was staring at her. She glanced up from her papers and glared at him.

"What?"

"I can't get anything done when you look at me like you expect me to entertain you."

"I don't."

"It feels like you do, with the way you're looking at me." She tossed Drienna's drawing to him. "Here, look. This is how I know that pitiable girl has no mother."

Fiyero studied it for a moment. "So her father's a widow."

"It would seem that way, yes. Why?"

Fiyero shrugged. "I don't know."

She looked at him suspiciously, both amused and worried by what she saw in his eyes. It worried her even more that she couldn't quite read it. Elphaba always felt that she knew him inside and out, that everything that he was and felt was out in the open between them. For a moment, she wasn't quite sure. Taking a quick breath, she meant to ask what was wrong, but she jumped as the dinner bell rang. She really would need to find a better way to do her work without letting him distract her. Perhaps she shouldn't allow him to come for her so early. It would be much less distracting to do her work in the schoolhouse instead.

She didn't mention that at dinner, for it was a private matter. And she'd meant to mention it the minute they were alone, but he kissed her and she started having trouble remembering what she'd wanted to speak with him about. Still, through being gently placed on the bed and undressed, she'd searched her mind relentlessly. But when a hand slipped down and pushed between her thighs, she lost concentration, knowing that there was no use in trying to remember for the time being, anyway.

Later, Fiyero held her and kissed the drops of sweat from her neck, shoulders and breasts. She felt her eyes drooping and she didn't bother to fight it. It had been so nice, as it always was, and she couldn't even remember that she'd wanted to say something beforehand. With what she'd intended to be a last, loving glance into his eyes before falling asleep, she kissed his nose and whispered, "I love you," as she rolled over to drift off.

He hugged her warmly and buried his face in her hair, pressing his lips against the back of her neck, causing her to giggle. Such sweet, intimate little moments sometimes made her day. Breathing her in, he murmured in return, "I love you, too, Fae." He chuckled softly. "Sometimes I love you so much I can't keep myself away from you."

Why'd he have to go and say that now? She'd forgotten she'd been slightly irritated about his behavior. It was looking to be such a peaceful, sweet night, too. Then again, most of their nights were. She sat up, looking away from him; she couldn't deal with his eyes.

"Fae?" He put a hand on her shoulder and sat up, too, trying to look at her face. "What is it?"

"You have to," she answered.

"Fae?"

"You have to learn to keep yourself away from me more, Fiyero." Her words were turning colder. "It's not that I don't want to be with you, you're just… I didn't get anything done tonight, Fiyero. I almost had someone else to talk to. But you got in the way."

"In the way? Fae?"

"I want time… by myself. I need it. Please, just don't come to find me unless I've been gone two hours past the time when the school day would've ended. I can't get work done when I'm near you, Fiyero. I'll spend every other moment of my time with you, love, but you've got to give me this much."

He bit his lip and removed his hand from her shoulder. "Okay," he muttered, turning away to fall asleep.

She didn't say anything, she just watched him until he realized that he needed to be holding her to fall asleep. Ten minutes later, he sat up and saw that she was still sitting as she had been when he'd turned away. His eyes bore into hers and she wanted to cry for him. "Yero…"

"Shhh," he kissed her mouth lightly. "I don't want to hear anymore. I'm sorry. You still love me, right?"

She fell back in the bed and dragged him down with her, "Oh, of course I do! How can you doubt it? I just need time, only a little time each day. And I also need time to sleep, like now."

He smiled hesitantly and wrapped his arms around her again, wondering again if he was losing her. The thought made him nervous and he held her closer, sleeping only when he'd tuned his breaths to be the same as hers.

When she woke, she didn't push him off of the bed right away, or move to get up. Yes, she needed time, but there was nothing that compared to the feeling of waking up in his arms. Nothing.


	36. Really loving someone

**Chapter Thirty-Six: Really loving someone**

"Your husband really loves you, doesn't he?"

Elphaba looked into the deep brown eyes questioning her, gritting her teeth. She followed the circles along his face, intent on hiding the fact that Fiyero had been more than hard to deal with lately, no matter how much he really loved her.

He respected her wishes and never came before two hours was up, but was always there at exactly two hours, no later. By this time, since summer was long gone, it was getting dark and she didn't mind having him there to walk her home. However, their conversations on their walks home she _did_ mind. Every time, Fiyero would try to subtly mention the fact that he didn't think she was around enough, that he wanted to be with her more. Fiyero was never good at being subtle. And thus, every evening they'd have a slight disagreement. She'd always win, but she'd always feel slightly guilty, too. So she'd curl up next to him at night and remind him that she loved him, but it didn't stop her from being irritated.

Winter break had come and gone and Elphaba had wanted Glinda to come out, since she hadn't over the summer due to Elphaba's untimely sickness. Fiyero had adamantly refused, claiming she was never home and that when she finally was she was going to pay attention to someone else. It had been the one fight that, due to guilt, Elphaba couldn't win. They'd pushed each other almost to tears and ended up tangled in the bed holding one another helplessly. Elphaba cringed at the memory, visualizing both of them, naked, on the bed, Fiyero clutching her and begging while she closed her eyes and tried to drown him out, hoping it would drown out the slight pang she felt when he looked this hurt. It hadn't.

At the end of winter break, Fiyero had tried to convince Elphaba to stop taking the birth control. He'd tried to make it seem like her idea, first, by mentioning that they'd been married a year, they'd had a good, easy year… but she hadn't fallen for it. When he'd spat out the idea, she'd been horrified. There was no way she could leave the school now. He'd said they could hire someone educated to replace her. She'd replied, "Replace me until when?" He'd been quiet. "I get it. You want me to stay home, have a baby, take care of it all of the time, and be your wife and reproduction machine. I'd barely have just had one child and you'd be trying to get me pregnant with another, wouldn't you? That's the only way you can think of to keep me home. That's your way of controlling me. It's not happening."

He'd reminded her then that she _was_ his wife, and that they couldn't wait forever to have children. But Elphaba always had something to retort with. "I'm your wife, not your baby making slave! I married you because I love you and want to spend every night by your side, not because I wanted to sit at home and have your children. We're twenty-two, Fiyero, we have plenty of time." At this, she'd gotten out of bed and hidden herself in the study for a day. He was lucky he hadn't been stupid enough to come after her. She'd have done something irrational out of anger as an excuse for a punishment. It wasn't as if she wasn't getting back at him in her own ways, anyway. She hadn't been nearly as keen on sex since that conversation, and there was no way he could bring it up without looking like a pig.

Kalendrio asking about her and Fiyero's relationship had shocked her. He'd talked with her daily since the first day of school, always leaving half an hour before Fiyero would come get her. This way, Fiyero always found her doing work, which is exactly what she'd said. Besides, she could do her work while talking to Kalendrio at the same time. It was much easier for her to work when she was in a room with a man who, for a change, wasn't remembering what she'd looked like naked the night before. She laughed aloud at that and flushed, looking back at Kalendrio. It was an odd question, for someone who talked with her about reading and math and science and political subjects. They rarely spoke personally. "Yes," she answered, "he really loves me. A lot."

Kalendrio nodded solemnly. He'd sent Drienna home with Liana to take her nap, which hadn't bothered Elphaba in the least. She loved the little girl, but she didn't mind talking with her father. The man was one of the few people she had to talk to about something other than personal issues and clothes.

"Do you miss your wife sometimes?" She asked quietly. Drienna had accidentally mentioned that the previous day had been the anniversary of her mother's death. Kalendrio hadn't said anything. All she knew was that the woman had died at twenty-one, giving birth to Drienna five and a half years ago.

"Every day." He muttered, moving away from the window and sitting at the chair next to her desk. "Liana has been so helpful, but she's only doing it for Drienna's sake. I barely speak with her, either. It's depressing only having your five-year-old daughter to talk to."

"It would be, wouldn't it? It's depressing just having a man who's so needy he could be five as the only one I talk to." She clapped a hand over her mouth. Maybe she shouldn't have said that.

Kalendrio only chuckled. "Who, your husband? Or me?"

She rolled her eyes and smacked him. "If you acted like a five-year-old, I'd be teaching you."

"Really, I don't see the Crown Prince Fiyero acting childish."

"Well, you don't sleep with him every night." She shook her head. "He's a needy, pathetic little baby inside those Palace walls."

"And you love him?"

"And I love him. But it is nice to have someone else to talk to." She smiled gently at Kalendrio, who smiled back. Looking beyond Kalendrio, she watched the door open and the ever-present form of Fiyero amble through the door, shivering slightly.

Kalendrio stood up, bowing immediately. "Good afternoon, your Highness."

"More like good evening," Fiyero responded. "It took me long enough to trudge out here it might as well be evening."

"I'd better get home. Drienna's probably waking up." Kalendrio grabbed his coat from the chair nearest the door and headed towards the door, lingering in the doorway for a moment to wave goodbye.

"Wasn't he here to pick up his daughter?" Fiyero asked.

"He was talking. Playing both mother and father kind of have him on the outs with the men and the women. He talks to me." She shrugged.

"You never let me sit and talk with you for two hours at a time."

"I most certainly do! We have hours upon hours after dinner every night."

"But there's also a little thing called sleep…"

"That little thing called sleep wouldn't be needed so quickly if you didn't insist on working off your dinners with a good, long lovemaking every night… or a fight."

"Fine." He grinned mischievously and swooped in to kiss her. It was long, demanding and the slightest bit primal. "We can work off lunch right now. And then after dinner, we can just sit and talk."

She made to move away. "Fiyero, we're in the middle of a schoolhouse!"

He caught her arm, spun her back to him in a circle and picked her up in his arms playfully. "The children are gone for the day, there's a nice fire in the corner…" He brought her to the floor in front of the fire, stealing another kiss before she could protest. Quick hands undid the zipper at the back of her dress.

Her eyes were wide as he pulled her clothes off. Temporarily dizzy from his game, she forgot that she'd meant to seem uninterested. She reached to help him with his own, but he caught her hands.

"I can do that in a minute. I don't need to for this part." He slipped two fingers between her legs and pressed them roughly into her.

She moaned helplessly as he slid his fingers deeper, right where he knew she'd feel it most intensely. In minutes, she was crying out recklessly.

He cleaned her up with his mouth and then sank his tongue into her, eagerly sipping the wetness inside of her. His hands held her down by the waist as she writhed beneath his mouth, losing control yet again. When she'd regained her breath, he was beaming down at her. Now, he decided, he could remove his clothes.

Just as he was removing the last piece of clothing, she jumped onto him, taking him into her readily. "Fiyero," she whimpered.

"I knew I'd get you to take control." He whispered knowingly. "I knew you'd get to the point where you couldn't stop it anymore."

"Shut up," she giggled, "or I'll be done now."

It was long, slow and had him excited to the point of no return. Nearing the end, as she moved almost painfully slowly, drawing it out, he pinned her down and finished the job, thrusting through all of her screams and his own deep groan. When it was over, he kissed his way down to her thighs, cleaning up the mess of liquid that was running down them. He helped her dress before dressing himself and then pulled her to him, smiling down into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Fae. I just love you so much I can't keep myself under control."

Her eyes sparkled and she laughed sweetly, the euphoria of all the times he'd pleased her still running through her veins. "I don't think you have anything to apologize for."

He wrapped her coat around her and opened the door to the schoolhouse for her. "Oh? Well, we'll see what you think about that after dinner."

"I thought you wanted to talk!" She pouted teasingly. Any other night, she knew she'd stop him there. She'd have stopped him before. But the feel of his mouth, of his hands, of _him_ was just too good to give up that night. He'd never realize that there were times when she wanted sex just as much as he did, and she never planned on letting him in on it. She had to have some power, some control, and if that was it, then she was fine with it.

"Not tonight. Tonight there will be almost no talking." He slid an arm around her shoulders as they wandered from the schoolhouse. "No talking. All night long."

The corner of her lips turned up into a smile and she ducked under his grasp and ran ahead of him, screaming into the night. "Come get me and shut me up, then."

Fiyero didn't even pause before chasing after her.

From the side of the schoolhouse, Kalendrio laughed, wishing he hadn't let the noises he'd heard distract him from heading home. He'd almost opened the door as the Crown Prince had taken Elphaba's clothes off. It wasn't as if he'd meant to stare; he just saw how happy and playful they were and it had frozen him for a little while. To himself, he said, "Yeah, he really loves her."


	37. Hero

**AN: Okay, so some people loved the last chapter, some thought it was too much. I myself agree that it was too much. There's something behind it, though. I admit I didn't NEED the detail I put in, but otherwise it would've been like "she always found it hard to resist him because it felt good". Yeah. Maybe this chapter will explain a bit why I wrote what I wrote.**

**Chapter Thirty-Seven: Hero**

Kalendrio watched Elphaba move around the schoolhouse the next day, picking up extra papers from the desks. He'd been trying very hard for the last few minutes to put what he'd seen the evening before out of his mind. Unfortunately, it's not so easy to forget the sight of the Crown Prince and Princess getting intimate on the floor of the schoolhouse. Somehow, royalty and sex had never seemed to go together in his mind. As a child, any tribe member was taught that the royal family, specifically the King, Queen and Crown Prince, were higher and more dignified. Having sex on the ground in the winter at the schoolhouse just didn't coincide with that sort of… dignity.

She smiled at him, but it was a weak, worn smile. There were bags under her eyes and she moved like her entire body ached. When she felt she'd thoroughly cleaned off the desks, she sat down behind her own, larger desk and slumped back in the chair. "This was not my day," she said hoarsely.

"You don't look so good. How'd your husband let you out of the Palace like that?" She had seemed in perfectly good health yesterday, what changed? He pulled a chair over near her and rubbed her shoulders gently.

She flinched and swatted him away. "The last thing I need right now is to be touched," she mumbled.

"Really, though, how'd he let you out? He's always worried about you on days when you're feeling and looking fine, how could he have possibly let you outside like that this morning?"

"He barely let me out of bed this morning," she muttered.

He wasn't sure what connotations she'd meant that to have, but he could guess at two. And judging from what he'd seen the previous night, he could almost pinpoint one. "Then how are you here?"

"He doesn't control me." Her voice rose slightly on this and she seemed, for only a moment, like she had more fight in her. Then she sighed again and said, "Really, I'm just tired." Her pitch got higher and she pretended to whine, "'But Fae, what about this? Fae, I want to do this. Fae, it's not _that_ late.'" She rested her arms on the desk and buried her face in them. "And it's not as if I don't know what he was trying to do. It took me until five o'clock this morning to figure it out, but I am not stupid, and he is not good at tricking me."

"Huh?" Kalendrio was a bit confused at this point.

She looked up from her arms stupidly. "My husband can be the most pathetic creature on the face of this earth."

"What do you mean?"

She blushed. "I'm going to tell you, but only because I have no one else to talk to about this. If you ever mention it again without my bringing it up, I will… I'll use my royal powers to do something or other," she shrugged.

He didn't know if she knew what she could do, but understood the threat. "Okay."

She took a deep breath, knowing she had to trust him with this; there was no one else, after all. He'd listened to her rant about Animal Rights and such, why should her ranting about her marriage be different? Besides, he was her friend, he was closest to her, aside from Fiyero, and he'd never betray her. "Last night, my husband would not let me go to bed. Well, he let me get into the bed, but he didn't exactly allow me to sleep."

"The entire night?"

"The entire night," she confirmed. "It's my fault, really. I shouldn't have let the fact that I was enjoying it prevent me from resisting when it got late, but it was so hard. Before I could even come down from the high he put me on, he's starting another one. You can't imagine how hard it is to stop that when it feels so good. He is never that bad at night. I couldn't figure out why he was behaving so strangely for the longest time, and just we were finally and completely done, I knew."

"What do you mean?"

"He's jealous and paranoid, Kalen." Elphaba kicked the desk weakly. "He thinks I'm not around enough, that I like you more because I talk to you for a little while. I can't put it through his head that I talk to him even more, he just doesn't realize it. I'm gone a lot of the day, yes, but the majority of it, I'm not talking to anyone but a bunch of children. Do you know what he said when it was over? He kissed my neck and whispered, 'I don't think anyone else could do that to you'. I mean, sweet Oz, he thinks he has to remind me who I love! He thinks he has to remind me who satisfies me. He didn't even do what he did last night because he's just a stupid, horny man; he did it because he wanted to remind me that he can satisfy me! I don't know if I'd rather it have been the more simple reason. Sometimes I wonder why I married him."

Kalendrio looked at Elphaba pityingly. "He treated you like…"

"I don't care that he did that! It's why he did it."

"You shouldn't be forced to stay up all night for sex, though."

"It wasn't force. It was good to the very end; I just wish I'd gotten more sleep. I wish he didn't have to be such a stupid, nervous…" Elphaba's throat caught a choke then and she drew her knees up on the chair, hiding her face.

Kalendrio jerked his chair closer and hugged her. "Elphaba," he said her name, knowing that nothing he said would comfort her. He didn't understand how she'd acted the way he'd seen her act with her husband and now feel this way. Yesterday, when she'd looked at Fiyero, it had been like she wanted nothing else in the world. Now she was crying.

"I wish I didn't love him," she whispered.

"But you do." He said softly.

"I want my own life. I want to be myself. But at the same time, I want him." She raised her face and looked at him then, shame, desperation, helplessness, want, hate, regret, everything was written across her face.

"Tell him that, then. Explain that you love him, but he can't keep behaving this way."

"I tried to!" She pushed out of Kalendrio's hug and stood, striding angrily across the room. "It only scares him more. He can't seem to understand that I can love him with everything I have, everything I know, that I can feel as if I would die without him, and at the same time ask to be left alone a few hours a day." Staring out the window, she wiped the frost away and squinted. "Speaking of not being left alone…" She muttered.

Kalendrio hugged her again before Fiyero came in, held her close and then let her go. "I don't know what to tell you."

She nodded, shaking with sadness… or was it rage? He couldn't tell.

The door flung open and Fiyero walked in. "Fae?" His voice was broken. Immediately it was obvious he felt guilty.

"You're early," she said slowly, "why? You're not supposed to come find me for another hour and a half. Or am I not allowed to be alone with someone that long?"

He shut the door behind him and didn't bother with his coat. Instead, he took her straight into his arms, murmuring, "I'm sorry, Fae. I'm sorry. I came early because I thought it'd be best for you to get home and get some rest as soon as possible. It's my fault you're exhausted and I don't want you like this." Fiyero looked down at her, seeing her face burned with tears, noticing her shuddering. "Last night, I…" He stopped himself and looked at Kalendrio, trying to politely ask him to leave.

Kalendrio hesitated. He saw nothing but good intentions in the Crown Prince's eyes, but that didn't mean those good intentions could fix things. Lingering in the doorway, he stared at his feet. "Um, your Highness, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Elphaba stared at him, confused, but didn't say anything as Fiyero carefully placed her in a chair, touched her cheek and followed the other man out the door into the cold. She didn't know what Kalendrio was going to say, but she was too tired to think much of anything.

Closing the door, Kalendrio felt absurd. What was he doing, attempting to give marriage advice to the Crown Prince when he himself was a widow? "Your Highness, if you'll excuse me saying so, I think she's upset for more reasons than being exhausted. She's tired, but I don't think that's necessarily was hurting her."

Fiyero blinked. How in Oz did Kalendrio know he'd kept Elphaba up? Elphaba wasn't normally the type to discuss sex with anyone. If she had said something, maybe something _was_ wrong. A common tribe boy knowing what happened between he and Elphaba… that irked him a bit, but he had other concerns. "Explain."

Kalendrio paused. How was he supposed to say this? "Normally, your Highness, when I talk to your wife, we talk about books or politics, nothing personal. Recently, though, she tells me more, I guess because she doesn't know what else to do. She loves you, your Highness, but as much as she does, she needs her space, herself, something aside from you and her."

Fiyero winced. It all sounded very familiar. When he realized Kalendrio had backed away a little, unsure if Fiyero was taking this the right way, he waved his arm and said, "Go on."

Apprehensively, he told him, "What happened between you two yesterday set her off, but I don't think that's all it is. She hasn't been doing too well. It's hard to tell, most days, but her topics of conversation trail off and she gets agitated. There's nothing I can do except to tell you this, your Highness. I think you need to talk with her."

Why couldn't he have figured this out on his own? Was he really that bad at understanding his own wife? Fiyero nodded and dismissed Kalendrio, feeling ignorant and insensitive. He came back in the schoolhouse and found her half asleep in the chair. "Fae…"

She shook herself awake again and looked up at him, giving him what he now realized was a very forced smile. "What are you…?" She recoiled when he picked her up, remembering what it had led to the last time.

"I'm taking you home and putting you to bed." When she looked at him fearfully, he groaned inwardly. "To sleep." After seeing her so exhausted as a result of him keeping her up, even if she had been willing, she didn't really think he'd pull the same stint again, did she?

Relieved, she relaxed and let him wrap her coat around her and mumbled sleepily as he struggled to open the door, "Thank you, my hero."

There was a short moment when Fiyero wasn't quite sure if she was talking about him…


	38. Compromise

**AN: Okay, as much as I tried to avoid confusion in the previous chapter, some people still seem to think that Fiyero forced Elphaba. If he did, it was only by whining, and she wasn't necessarily asking him to stop. That's half the problem. She doesn't know how. I was trying to establish that by the ending scene in thirty-six. That scene actually had a point! It was to establish that he planned to keep her up, and to establish that she couldn't help but let him because, whenever he touches her like that, she wants it, too.**

**Chapter Thirty-Eight: Compromise**

Elphaba sighed, looking up at Fiyero through drowsy eyes. He moved the blankets away, undressed her and then wrapped the blankets around her. "Sleep. It's a Friday, love, we'll talk in the morning."

She wasn't sure if she actually nodded or not, but that had been her intention before her eyes closed. It was hard to concentrate when she was falling so quickly into sleep. However, the fact that he made no move to join her unsettled her and she opened her eyes questioningly. "Where are you going?"

He shook his head, smiling gently at her. "I'm going to leave the room, for once. I have a few business affairs I need to discuss with my father."

Elphaba turned to her side and tugged the blankets tighter around herself. "Okay." She felt lips on her forehead for a moment and thought she might've heard the distant sound of the door closing. It didn't much matter to her.

She woke up again when it was dark out, looking around hurriedly. There'd been something moving near the side of the bed. She laughed at her foolishness when Fiyero slipped into the blankets beside her, kissed her forehead again and held her, as always. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing. I just scared myself, that's all."

He raised his eyebrows, but she didn't notice in the black of the room. "All right. Going back to sleep, then?"

"I think, if that's okay…"

She wasn't possibly _asking_ him if she was allowed to go to sleep, was she? He knew she never let him control anything, even if he tried. It scared him to realize what he must've had to behave like to turn her into this. "Since when do you need my permission for anything?" He pretended to tease her, but he didn't really think it was so amusing.

"Good point." She yawned. In a voice not so much accusing as it was weak and lazy, she whispered, "But wouldn't you like it better that way?"

"No." He answered quickly. "Sometimes I may think I do," he paused, "but you wouldn't be you if you let me control you. It's not who you are. I love you, not some submissive weak little creature."

"I know. We established a long time ago that I didn't want you to expect something from me that I'm not. It's just that lately, you can't seem to deal with the way I am and the way I show my affection to you."

"Fae, it's not that…" He trailed off, not sure what to tell her. It wasn't that he wanted something she wasn't from her; it was that he wanted too much to always be around what she _was_. Sighing, he stroked her hair and said, "Look, you wanted to go to sleep. I'm not stopping you. This conversation is not stopping you. I can wait, so can this conversation. When you wake up, I promise we'll talk about this. But I think it's best, now, that you sleep."

"Mmmm. That sounds good." She reached up and kissed him softly on the mouth and then settled back to lay her head on his chest. "But you're going to be my pillow."

He bent his neck to nuzzle his chin against the top of her head. Relaxing against the mattress again, he replied, "Whatever you want, my Fae."

Eyes closed already, she giggled and said, "I think you should keep that mindset." If he did respond, neither of them could remember, for sleep took their conscious minds and left them to rest.

She had no idea what time it was when she woke up, for it was still dark. Squinting towards the clock, she turned over and climbed on top of her husband in a completely non-sexual way, straddling him at his belly-button rather than the waist, leaning down so her face was just above his and covering her chest with the length of her hair. When he grunted and tried to push her away wearily, she held her ground. "Wake up, my sleeping prince. Feeling well-rested, are you?"

It took him a minute to understand her, and when he did, he gave her a glare through eyes still fuzzy with slumber. Looking at her, he reached up and ran a thumb along her cheek, saying reluctantly, "I deserve this, don't I?"

"Yes, you do. Besides, you'd said we'd talk when I woke up. Well, I woke up." She was grinning now, an expression visible even before eyes had completely adjusted to the lack of light. The lamp was on Fiyero's side of the bed; she reached over without changing position and in a moment both of them covered their eyes from the sting of brightness. Elphaba was able to uncover her eyes first and she said, "So, can we talk?"

"Only if you get off of me." Fiyero said.

"Why?" She pouted, bouncing lightly.

"Fae!" Fiyero gasped, "You're going to kill me if you do that! I know you don't weigh much, but my stomach hurts and my ribs are about to cave in."

"Fine." She clambered off of him and laid back down, turning over on her side so they were facing each other. Fiyero took one of her hands, clasping it in his instinctively and she didn't protest. "We're going to talk. But no matter how angry we get, neither one of us moves much. If one of us says something that offends or hurts the other, instead of stomping out of the room, we explain. This way, we can say anything we want, but we're still going to be here, next to each other, no matter what. Okay?"

Fiyero seemed to like that idea. "Sounds fine."

He had no idea that she'd said that more for him than for her. In every fight they had, it was much more likely for her to pull away or leave the room than it was for him. She didn't want him holding back anything he wanted to say because he was afraid he'd have to sleep alone. "One more thing. I don't want you forgetting this throughout the entire conversation, because it's not changing. I love you."

Fiyero cupped her face and smiled. "I love you, too."

Elphaba squeezed the hand that held hers and began, "Fiyero, I know I don't act quite the way you want me to…"

"No, Fae, don't." He stopped her. "I only want you to act like yourself."

"You don't seem to let me." She stated.

He bit into the inside of his cheek, contemplating something. After a moment he said, "I'm sorry about that. Fae, it's not that I want you to be another way, I just want to be with you the way you are as much as I can."

"And that's the way you love me. In some ways, Yero, we love the same, like the fact that I would die if you were taken from me for long enough. In other ways, though, we don't love the same way, because you love like you want me around always. I love you more than anything, but I could love a million people that way and still want to be alone for a nice chunk of time. My love for you isn't any less strong than your love for me is, it's just different." Elphaba sighed. "I wish I could change it so we both got what we wanted. Unfortunately, you want my companionship almost too much, and I want to be alone almost too much. It's too bad we couldn't just wave a wand and even it out."

"I don't mean to be so… overbearing. I get scared of losing you to someone else, sometimes. I can't lose you."

"You won't," she said firmly. "But you have to trust me, not try to control me."

"I hate it when you're right as much as you hate it when I'm right," he joked, trying to lighten the mood. "And you are right. You were right before, too. About the baby thing, you read me like a book, even if I didn't want to admit it."

"You didn't need to tell me that; I knew." She took a deep breath. "Nonetheless, maybe I shouldn't try and separate myself from you as much as I do. I married you, after all, and that's not what I'm acting like."

"And it's not what I acted like, either."

"We could compromise," she offered. "I'll stop telling you to leave me alone; you'll stop trying to control my every move. You can still come get me two hours after the school day ends, as long as you don't act funny if someone else is talking to me. I kind of like having you to walk back to the Palace with, anyway."

"You know what the other night was about, then, don't you?"

"I think it was the most pathetic and insecure thing you have ever done and if you ever try it again, I will not hesitate to do something very violent to very important part of you," she replied. "You don't need to remind me that I love you and go home with you every night. You don't need to remind me that you can give me the most powerful feeling of ecstasy so sweet I can barely imagine it. It's not that easy to forget."

He laughed. "I don't know what came over me…"

"I do. Jealousy and protectiveness and paranoia and complete and utter idiocy."

"I won't let it happen again."

"And even if you do, which I hope dearly that you don't, I won't let it. It wasn't exactly all your fault. I should've put a stop to it when I had the chance."

"I didn't give you much of a chance. Once it was over, I'd just find another way to please you before you could even figure out I was done."

"I know. It worked, too. And there are times when I wouldn't mind staying up all night with you – maybe not doing what we did quite as much, but…"

"I know. But I don't think we will. If we ever do stay up, well, a little late, no school nights, right?"

"Right. Never."

There was a long pause. "I don't think we have much more to say."

"True," Elphaba concluded, "well, then, we worked this out in a relatively short amount of time. Hopefully, what we agreed on will help – if we honor what we agreed on, that is."

"I will. And if I ever don't, you have the right to slap me as hard as you want."

"And if I don't, you have the right to… well, not to keep me up all night, but to steal me away for a few hours to talk." Elphaba shifted and looked out the window. "It's still dark. I guess we should just go back to sleep." She rolled over.

Fiyero wrapped his arms around her waist and spoke, though it was muffled slightly by her hair, "We're going to be okay, then?"

"Yes, I think we're going to be just fine."


	39. Too Much

**Chapter Thirty-Nine: Too Much**

"You look much better." Kalendrio said first thing upon walking into the schoolhouse.

"Miss Elphie isn't so sad anymore, Daddy!" Drienna said, jumping up and down and running to her father.

He picked her up and pretended to grimace before putting her down again. "My, my, you are getting so big it's hard to do that! Have you gotten taller since this morning?" He crouched down and looked at her closely. "You look like your mother much more."

Drienna seemed not to understand his last comment. "I'm so tall, I'm taller than the doorknob!" She ran to the door to display this miracle. "Let's go, Daddy. I want to play outside. Herndon said he was going to start a big game of flower picking. I don't want to be late. If I'm late, I won't get the most flowers!"

"It is getting nicer, isn't it?" Kalendrio looked past his daughter and out the door. "You can go by yourself, if you want. I can walk you over, though."

"You'll let me go all by myself? Without even Nanny Liana?"

Kalendrio chuckled, "You're a big girl now, almost six." He watched Drienna rush out the door and said to Elphaba, "It's less than a few yards down the path."

She smiled. "She does look bigger. Did she grow over the weekend?"

"I don't even know. _You_ really do seem a lot better."

"Good. I don't know how much longer I could've gone around with those huge black circles under my eyes without scaring the poor kids." She laughed. "One day was enough." Softly, she asked, "What did you say to my husband?"

"I just told him that I thought you were upset about more than just being incredibly tired. I'm assuming it helped a bit?"

"It sped things up a little. He probably would've figured it out pretty quickly, though." She nodded.

"I don't know."

"What are you saying?" She narrowed her eyes.

"He just seemed really surprised about it, that's all. Though it was fairly obvious." He was starting to wish he hadn't told Prince Fiyero anything, but he hated the way he'd seen Elphaba, and he'd had to do something. "Anyway, things are good between you and your husband, now?"

"They're always pretty good. They're just very good right now." Elphaba flashed a smile.

"Right. What happened?"

"Aside from him putting me to bed and letting me sleep from four in the afternoon to three o'clock in the morning, we talked. We apologized to each other."

"Shouldn't it just have been him apologizing to you?"

"It was, mostly. But I haven't been the best, most loving wife, either."

"From what I've seen, you haven't done anything wrong."

"And you haven't seen much. You've seen him with me a few times, but you don't know what I'm like to him sometimes. There are days when he'll have tramped through weather from hell just so he can be here and walk back to the Palace with me and I don't thank him, don't even speak to him, and then when we get home, I lock myself into the study and read, going to bed late. I tend to do that once a week, at the least, and that's not fair." Elphaba sat down at her desk and started sorting through papers. "I doubt your wife ever did that."

"No," Kalendrio acknowledged, sitting down as well, "she didn't. But even if she had I wouldn't have done what Prince Fiyero did."

"That's what you think. Maybe you would've. You can't know for sure. Besides, if you really wouldn't have, you'd do something that would have a similar effect."

"I doubt anything else would have the effect that your husband's tongue seemed to have on you."

Elphaba dropped the papers and glanced at him slowly. "What? How do you…?" She had never considered that she and Fiyero had been seen and still didn't consider it, then. Racking her brains, she tried to remember if she'd said anything that alluded to what he'd just mentioned.

Kalendrio realized what he'd said and backtracked quickly. "I mean the effect your husband's words had on you. I didn't mean literally…"

"I knew that." Elphaba said quickly, flushing and looking away.

Kalendrio said nothing. They'd both made potentially embarrassing comments and if he didn't say anything about what she'd implied, she wouldn't bring up what he'd alleged. Instead, he took her chin in his palm and turned her face towards him. Without thinking, he pressed his lips against hers.

Elphaba didn't move. She was thinking, _he moved the wrong way. In a minute, he'll pull away and apologize. He'll say he hadn't meant to lean that way…_ But when she felt his tongue try and pry her lips open, she had to admit what was going on. Roughly, she pressed her palms against his chest and shoved him away, pushing him completely off of the chair. Standing, she demanded, "What in Oz do you think you're doing?"

He stared up at her, not affected much by the fall. Speechless, he shook his head.

"What sort of sign did I send that made you think it was right for you to do that?" She looked hurt more than angry, though there was no doubt of the latter. "Isn't there some sort of law against touching the Crown Prince's wife in any way that could imply sexual affection? I've got half a mind to inform my husband what you just did and…"

"Elphaba, please." He whispered. "I thought…"

"Oh, you thought? What did you think, exactly?"

"Prince Fiyero isn't treating you right, Elphaba! I would never do that sort of thing to you. You could be as individual as you wanted and I wouldn't turn into some sort of sappy, feeble nag who can't let you go."

Elphaba stepped backwards, horrified. "He loves me and he does what he can."

"But I do, too. And I could do better."

"No, you couldn't. He _needs_ me. He can't even sleep for very long when he's not next to me. He tells me every night that he thinks I'm beautiful. He doubled his workload our third year of college because I asked him to. He stayed by my side every single moment I was sick, fatally sick. He took care of me, held me and whispered sweet things to me when he wasn't even getting any sort of response. He cried into my hair when he thought I was dying. He woke up every hour to check on me. All of that for a sick person who couldn't even say so much as 'thank you' for two months. He could've hired a nurse, a doctor, something, but he took care of me himself. I don't see anything better than that. There are very few people who'd take the time, the energy, the caring to do that for anyone, even someone they loved. Yes, he's a bit needy, but it makes me feel needed, like I mean something. I love him for everything he is, and I love him for loving me. You may think you could do better, but it wouldn't make me happy, would it? Nothing anyone else could do would, because I love _him_."

"But don't you wish you didn't?"

"Once or twice I've wished I didn't love him as much as I do because it scares me and I can't control it. But just because I've wished that doesn't mean it's going to change. You're grasping at straws. Did you really believe that I could return what you feel for me, whatever that is?"

"I thought maybe, in time…"

"Well, you were wrong, you're still wrong." She shut her eyes for a moment, trying to keep her calm. It wasn't helping. "Get out," she spat.

"Elphaba, I didn't mean…" Kalendrio stood and stumbled backwards towards the door.

"I said 'get out', and I meant it. Do you want me to runback to the Palaceand tell my husband what you just did?"

"No, if you'd just listen…"

"I'm done listening. Get out, now."

He didn't say anything more, which relieved her greatly. In a moment, he was gone.

Elphaba stood behind the desk, shuddering. There was too much to think about and suddenly she didn't want to be there anymore. Realizing this, she flew out that door and headed home. She knew Fiyero spent much of the day with his father when she was gone, so she headed to the throne room the minute she got in. After being admitted and noting Fiyero wasn't there, she asked his father, who looked bewildered, where he was. He sent her to the royal study.

When she opened the door, she knew he was in the room before even looking in. He was relaxed on one of the luxurious couches, flipping through an old book of constitutions. But he could always sense her presence better than she could sense his, and he looked up even though he hadn't heard the door. "Fae? What are you doing back?"

She shut the door behind her and scrambled into his lap, smiling when he took her into his arms. "Yero my hero," she murmured sweetly, "I love you. I love you so much more than I show or tell you. I just… I missed you today."

He furrowed his eyebrows, obviously wondering what had caused this strange behavior. "But, Fae…"

She cut him off with a kiss. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him fervently and passionately. "Don't," she said when the kiss was done, "please."

He gave in with an exasperated sigh, hugging her close as she rested her head against his chest, shifting in order to make holding her easier. "If I didn't love you so much, Fae, I wouldn't listen to that. But I guess I love you too much."

"No," she whispered, nuzzling against his loving arms, "You could _never_ love me too much."


	40. Missing Drienna

**AN: I realize that what Elphaba does in this chapter is a bit out of character, because she stays mad and doesn't let things go easily. I'm just trying to establish how important Drienna is to her, and how bored she gets with only Fiyero to talk to.**

**Chapter Forty: Missing Drienna**

Every morning, it got more difficult to leave Fiyero's arms and go back to the schoolhouse. She would plead with herself not to open her eyes, but the other side of her won every time. After her day, she'd return home immediately and Fiyero would wait for her in the study. Often times, they'd curl up together to read and discuss the things going on in the little Arjiki kingdom. Fiyero was someone to talk to, but she still missed Kalendrio's companionship, nonetheless.

She missed Drienna, too. The little girl hadn't shown up in the three days since she'd thrown Kalendrio out of the schoolhouse. Elphaba wondered why she hadn't considered that consequence when she'd spoken so harshly to Kalendrio. There were a lot of consequences she hadn't considered, though. Having only Fiyero (and occasionally his mother) to speak with – aside from the children, of course – wore her idle mind very thin. It wasn't as if she could sit around and do nothing without thinking or talking over things all day. An active mind needs release. Fiyero helped with that, but there were parts that got blocked between them, things she would've loved to discuss with Kalendrio. Why had he been so stupid?

She'd always thought no man would love her and that she'd live to be the oldest virgin who ever existed, an old maid with cats or something. Now she was married, loved by not only her husband but another man, as well. This had not been one of the many problems she'd expected to face in life.

When Drienna didn't show the next morning, she knew she couldn't bear it anymore. At least allow the poor child an education! It wasn't as if the girl hadn't wanted to go to school. She'd always been excited and ready to work. Something had to be done.

She caught Liana and took her aside as the mothers collected their children. "Where is Drienna?"

Liana shrugged. "I don't know. She's not ill. She still comes outside and plays with Herndon after school. I haven't spoken much with Kalendrio, but I don't think he's allowing her to come anymore. She gets very jealous whenever Herndon or one of their playmates mentions school. But I have to go, I'm sorry. I can't be away from home for more than a few minutes. Herndon's little sister is coming down with something and I don't feel comfortable leaving her with anyone else for very long."

Rashly, Elphaba followed, "I'll come with."

"What?"

"I have to talk to Kalendrio."

The woman didn't ask more, and Elphaba thanked her silently, though she could see her eyebrows raise. Kalendrio had been right, it was just down the path. It took the two women and Herndon (who walked a little slower with his tiny legs) less than ten minutes to reach their destination. Liana pointed to the hut on the right. It was smaller than the rest – she supposed that was because it only housed two people – and the garden looked as though it had been untended for years. Elphaba thought it must've been the wife's.

Approaching the splintered wooden door, Elphaba reached her fist up to knock and then pulled it back. She was royalty. If she really wanted to, she could stride right into the house. This life was full of unexpected surprises, and Elphaba considering using the power she held as the crown prince's wife was one of them. With the thought that no harm could come to her – there were severe consequences for touching any member of the royal family in a harmful way – she stepped inside.

It wasn't a neatly kept kitchen/eating area, but it wasn't disgustingly unsanitary, either. There wasn't much one man could do when he had to do work with the rest of the men, take care of his daughter and keep his own house. She wondered suddenly how he'd found the hour or more each day to spend time talking with her. Well, she knew why, but not how.

There were two open doorways that didn't have a door to open or close and one with a door crooked halfway in to reveal a bathroom. The other two rooms would probably be the bedrooms, she guessed. She would not go further into the house, for the idea of walking into the bedroom of a man who claimed he loved her made Elphaba uneasy. But Drienna emerged from one of the rooms just then, holding a toy shovel, calling, "Daddy, I'm going to go outside and play with Herndon now. I saw through the window that he's home. Is that okay?" She didn't notice Elphaba.

Kalendrio came out of what must've been his room and stopped abruptly, seeing Elphaba at an angle almost perfectly across from her. Before the little girl said anything, he waved Elphaba away from the door and said, "Yes. Go ahead, Dri."

"Bye Daddy!" Drienna skipped happily, just realizing Elphaba was in the room. "Bye Miss Elphie!" The door shut behind her and the room flooded with silence.

After a few minutes, Elphaba's voice pierced the room, "You can't tell me to leave. But I want to, and you're coming with me. I demand you speak with me in the schoolhouse. If you don't, I will have guards escort you to the Palace and you can explain to Prince Fiyero why you refuse to do as I wish. Lying would get you nowhere with my husband, especially not when I know the truth. He'd believe me, and he'll do whatever I ask, the crazy man. So, make your choice."

Kalendrio straightened up and nodded. "I'll come. But may I ask, _your Highness Princess Elphaba_," he spoke and mocked her name cuttingly, "why you'd rather talk with me in the schoolhouse?"

"Of course, noble peasant. I shall grant you an explanation." She wasn't going to correct him; she'd play his game. "Imagine how my husband would feel to come for me in," she looked around, "a little over an hour and find the schoolhouse empty. He's probably already concerned that I didn't go straight back to the Palace to him after teaching." She motioned him out the door and walked in front of him towards the schoolhouse.

"You go straight home to your husband these days?" Kalendrio asked, sounding slightly amused.

"I have nothing else to do. I find it comforting going home and spending time with my husband before dinner." In a malicious attempt to make him jealous, she added, "It's also very nice to make _incredibly_ passionate love with my husband before going to bed. It seems to make it easier to fall asleep, though it's easy enough with his arms wrapped around me, anyway. But that was beside the point, wasn't it?" She didn't look back at him.

"It was." He answered shortly. "And I thought you felt that your husband wanted sex too much."

"It was only that one time. And there was a reason. It's not as if he pressures me all the time." She replied.

"Of course, only once." Kalendrio mumbled sarcastically, as if dismissing the idea. "I thought it bothered you that Prince Fiyero always comes to get you every day?"

"No. It bothers me when he gets needy and complains as we walk home that I'm never around. Our walks home have never been the happiest past time," she said, glad the schoolhouse wasn't far.

"It seems like a lot of things aren't the happiest past time with you two."

Before opening the door, she told him, "I would appreciate it if you would stop degrading my relationship with my husband, or my husband in general, thank you very much."

Kalendrio didn't have a comment to answer her with. He silently followed her into the schoolhouse and pulled a chair from behind one of the desks, bringing it closer to the main desk, which Elphaba had taken her usual seat behind. The biting attitude of their conversation seemed to fade. "So, you wanted to talk to me?"

Elphaba looked at him a bit her lip. "I wish this was just about begging you to put Drienna back in school, but it's not." She shifted self-consciously in her chair. "Kalen," she started, using the nickname she'd only used once before, "I'm not going to pretend that you weren't an idiot. I won't hesitate to tell you that what you did was…"

"Stupid? Wrong? A mistake?" Kalendrio finished.

"That and more." She almost smiled. "And I can't return whatever it is you think you feel for me. I'm married to the man who's to become your king, and I love him. But I don't want him to be the only intelligent person I talk to day in and day out. I don't want his mother to be the closest thing to a friend that I have around here. I was hoping we could go back to being friends, back to talking after I've let the kids out for the day, back to talking politics and books, back to talking about things I just can't talk to my husband about. I miss that. I miss your daughter, too."

Kalendrio was confused. He'd expected her to beg or demand that he keep Drienna in school, but she was so stubborn he hadn't expected her to come right out and say that she wanted his friendship. She wasn't one to allow herself to be vulnerable, but now here she sat, looking at him, still biting her lip helplessly, waiting. She seemed almost surprised with what she'd said.

And she was. If it hadn't been for Drienna, she wouldn't have bothered even walking into the village. She had planned on speaking to him about considering letting the girl continue school, but she certainly hadn't planned on what she'd said. It sounded almost like she needed him, and that wasn't the impression she'd wanted to give. Nonetheless, her words were out now and taking them back would be childish.

Kalendrio studied her for a moment. "I understand. I can't promise I won't think the way I have been, but I can promise I won't act on it. Drienna will be in school tomorrow morning."

She let the air she wasn't aware she'd been holding out and her body deflated. "Thank you."

"So," Kalendrio sat back in his chair, as always, "read anything good lately?"


	41. Just Making Sure

**AN: COME ON REVIEWERS! I'm WAITING. Okay, maybe it's my fault because I'm updating so darn quickly. Anyway, as you can see, Elphie and Yero's problems are not quite over. I love how paranoid some of you are getting. Don't worry, there shall be no non-Fiyeraba sex. End of story.**

**Chapter Forty-One: Just Making Sure**

Fiyero looked at the clock. _Finally_. He could leave now and head out to the schoolhouse. Normally he had no problem with Elphaba's two-hour rule, but today he was the slightest bit nervous. She'd been coming straight home to him for several days now, and the fact that she hadn't made him worry that something had stopped her. He supposed he was being foolish, but the thought of anything happening to her made his head spin and his world look bleak. But now it was a quarter after four and he could see her and make sure for himself that she was fine in a mere fifteen minutes, the length of time it took him to walk to the schoolhouse.

He hadn't asked why she was coming home so quickly the past few days. Every time he'd come near bringing it up, she'd lead him away. It did amuse him that, when he said something she didn't want to hear, instead of turning cold, she became more loving, hoping to take his mind away from anything more on the subject. She knew it worked as much as he knew she was doing it. But he'd never stopped her. The last thing he needed was for something to go wrong between them.

Eventually, he'd reasoned that she came home to him right away because she wanted to more than she had before, after their talk. It was a wonderful thought, and he spoiled himself by relishing in it and believing it. She'd let him think it, too. Elphaba had encouraged it. Even now, he was still grasping it tightly, firmly refusing to let it go.

He heard voices and laughter from even outside, and noted that the lights were on. In some ways, this relieved him, because Elphaba had to be in there, and safe, if she was laughing. But the voices were put to a sudden halt as he opened the door.

Elphaba looked towards him and smiled. "My hero," she said, "I thought you'd never show. You're two minutes late."

He laughed at her comment, but it didn't stop him from thinking he'd walked in on a conversation full of happiness and giddiness that he wasn't allowed to be a part of. "I guess thinking too much while I walk slows me down."

"Don't hurt yourself thinking to hard, dear." She teased.

Kalendrio, the only other person in the schoolhouse, laughed.

"Elphaba," Fiyero said quietly, but firmly, "please do not talk to me that way in front of anyone else."

Elphaba nodded slowly, a little disturbed. She rose to leave and then turned to let Kalendrio out the door. Suddenly a little awkward and stiff, she shook his hand and said, "It's good to talk with you again. I'll see you when you come get Drienna tomorrow."

"Talk to him again?" Fiyero asked, confused.

Kalendrio and Elphaba looked at each other for a moment and then Elphaba said, "He's been sick for a few days."

Kalendrio agreed quickly, "Yes, not doing too well for a little while." He bowed his head at them and left.

Fiyero watched Elphaba clear off her desk, following her movements with his eyes. He loved the way her hair – though it was braided at the moment – contrasted her skin. Her voice snapped him out of his slight trance. "Ready to go, darling?"

"Of course," he took her hand as he opened the door. "So, the reason you've been coming home so early the past few days was because Kalendrio was sick?"

"Yes." She said.

"Oh." He tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice. There would be no more delusions for him.

She heard it. Seeing the hurt in his eyes, she added, "That and the fact that I like spending time with you."

But Fiyero was not that hopelessly set on convincing himself that she was that attached to him. "I know." He squeezed her hand.

"Oh, damn it! Don't start this now." Elphaba yanked her hand away.

"What?"

"I know you were hoping that me coming home to you all the time was a permanent behavior and I'm sorry it wasn't. I love you, Fiyero, but I need other human adult contact. Can't you understand?"

He nodded, took her hand again and pretended to be looking around. Fiyero was afraid she'd see he didn't quite think everything was right, and he knew how she'd react to that. But mentioning that she'd also acted very odd the past few days wasn't going to get him anywhere. Why had she come running home, looking so distraught, so hurt, early that week? Why had she thrown herself into his arms and begged and pleaded with him not to ask? These thoughts drove him mad, knowing that there had to be something more and she just wouldn't tell him. After all, if it had only been that Kalendrio hadn't been around, why didn't she want him asking her about it?

Elphaba seemed happy enough, though. She played with his fingers idly and hummed as they walked. After a long pause, she spoke. "Yero my hero?"

He looked at her, wondering what she wanted. "What?"

"I've been thinking about having school continue through summer. There's just so much I have to teach them, and…"

Searching desperately for something to stop this, he interrupted, "I thought you wanted Glinda to come out?"

"You'd let me ask?" She looked up hopefully.

Anything to keep her at home and away from Kalendrio, he decided. There was something there he just didn't like. "Of course. I told you I'm not going to try and control you."

She hugged him fiercely. "Thank you."

He smiled down at her and kissed her nose. "Anything for you."

"So… you wouldn't mind if I still continued the school through summer?" She blinked innocently.

"But… Glinda?"

"She could come with during the days. She loves kids."

Well, at least Glinda would be with her and Kalendrio couldn't try anything, Fiyero realized. Resigned, he said, "Whatever you want. I told you."

They were approaching the castle by this point and she stopped him at the door. "I love you." She kissed him intensely and playfully led him up the stairs.

"I thought you were completely opposed to sex before dinner." He commented, watching her undress after she'd closed the bedroom door.

"Not exactly," she smirked. "I'm just opposed to you thinking you can have sex before dinner on whatever days you please. Besides, I'm not that hungry."

Later, when they'd told the servants they wouldn't be down for dinner and had snuck down for a snack when they heard things being cleared up, Fiyero said, "Fae, I need to talk to you about something."

They were both lying comfortably in bed and Elphaba was stretched out next to Fiyero's body under the blanket. "What is it, Yero?"

"First of all, I love how you told me you weren't hungry and then downstairs just now you practically shoveled food into your mouth."

"How could I not be hungry after _that_?" She teased.

"Good point." He curled up against her and rested his head against her chest, for once. "Second of all," he began, shifting slightly when she began to stroke his cheek and run her hands through the hair at the top of his head, "there's something that's been bothering me. I want you to know I'm not accusing you of anything, Fae."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you wouldn't do anything, but I still don't like Kalendrio. There's something in the way he acts that just makes me nervous."

She pulled the hand on his cheek away and stopped moving the other one through his hair, letting it rest on his forehead. "He's my friend. It's not as if he's going to hurt me."

"That's not necessarily what I'm getting at," he said, _and she knows it, too_.

"Go on," she sighed.

"Have you ever thought he might try to… touch you?"

She was silent.

"I mean, I know you wouldn't allow him to, but what if he tries to force something on you?"

"I can take care of myself. And he doesn't think of me like that." She responded immediately.

There was a thickness in her voice when she'd denied that the man might have feelings for her. Had he already tried something? No, he couldn't have. Elphaba wouldn't have put up with it and let him still be around her. "If you're sure."

"I am. I'm very sure."


	42. Good Luck

Chapter Forty-Two: Good Luck

Elphaba gently put her hand on Kalendrio's. "I'm sorry." She knew she was breaking the rules she'd set for herself, but it felt awful to sit there and see him so upset without doing something.

He'd mentioned again that Drienna was growing to look so much like his late wife, and Elphaba had asked about it. She knew how and when, but she hadn't known much else.

It had been an arranged marriage, but not a terribly uncomfortable one, like Fiyero's parents' marriage. The village children all knew each other growing up, and so he'd always known her. They'd even been pretty friendly, though that hadn't made their wedding night any less awkward. He'd told Elphaba even those details, though he'd kind of gotten embarrassed about it. Elphaba had laughed at the familiar conversation just beforehand, in which he'd told his wife that he didn't want to hurt her. Kalendrio had raised his eyebrows at Elphaba then, and she'd told him the story of her and Fiyero's wedding night. This had almost cheered him.

But then he'd continued his story, of a really happy, loving first few months and finding out in the third month that she was two months pregnant. After that, he'd apparently waited on her hand and foot, though she'd protested some (she sounded a little bit like Elphaba in that way, never letting anyone take complete care of her). Everything had seemed to be going fine, but how could they know? The midwife could only tell so much. He remembered wanting to be by her side during the birth, being there for some of it, but being thrown out when things had started to look bad.

The midwife had come out of the room holding Drienna and had placed her in Kalendrio's arms. For a moment, he'd thought it had all gone well, but he could see in the woman's face that there was something wrong. He remembered feeling like he'd lost the majority of his world and then looking at the child he was holding and resolving to take the best care of her that he could. Drienna was all he had left of his wife, and he would treasure that.

"Don't be. It happens." He pretended to shrug.

She gripped his hand firmly. "But that doesn't mean it's not something to be sorry about…" Elphaba jumped almost out of her seat when Fiyero walked in the door, pulling her hand away from Kalendrio's abruptly. Glancing at the clock, she said, "Darling, aren't you a few minutes early today?"

"I must've walked faster today. I set out at the same time." Fiyero looked at Elphaba, who was smiling sweetly, though a little falteringly. He then looked at Kalendrio, who looked just the slightest bit… guilty? Looking back at Elphaba and noticing a flicker of irritation in her eyes, he protested, "You can't be mad at me for _that_."

"No, you're right, I can't. Besides, I'm happy to see you." She stood and hugged him lightly.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, then, Elphaba. Goodbye, your Highness." Kalendrio bowed and headed towards the door.

Elphaba, feeling a wave of guilt, caught him before he left and hugged him fiercely. "Tomorrow."

The door shut and left Elphaba and Fiyero in a tense silence. Fiyero said, "Are you sure I can't come any earlier?"

That was it. He'd done it. Elphaba's eyes lit up with anger. "Fiyero, I thought we talked about this. No, no, no. You can't. Stop being so possessive and needy. I love you, my Yero, but you need to stop clinging to me or I might just go crazy."

It was then that he realized that he wasn't getting through to her at all.

_Dear Glinda,_

_I know Elphaba's already written to you and you've written back. I know you're coming out later in the summer rather than earlier because your family wanted to spend time with you after graduation. I understand that. But I'm begging you to hurry it up just a little bit, if possible. I'm worried about our relationship and she won't talk to me about it without getting angry. You're the only one I know who could get to her. I know I sound crazy, but believe me; it's not paranoia this time._

_And there's something else. I feel like… there's this man who comes to see her every day after she's let the kids out from school; he's the father of one of the girls, who Elphaba absolutely adores. However, I'm not allowed to even come near the schoolhouse until two hours after she's let them out. I see the way he looks at her and I know what he wants from her. She swears nothing's going on, and I believe her, but it feels like something could start going on any day now, and I'm losing her. If you were here, maybe she'd come straight home, or at least you'd be with her in the schoolhouse to make sure nothing… I can't believe I'm saying this… adulterous… happens. _

_I don't want to sound paranoid. I don't want to sound like I don't trust her. I do. I love her more than anything, and I can't think of what I'd do if I lost her. I don't mean to sound desperate, but please hurry your skinny blonde butt out here!_

_Sincerely,_

_Fiyero_

Elphaba loved Fiyero, she really did. It was just that he got so irritating sometimes. He needed her; she understood that. She needed him, too. But she didn't need him every damned moment of the day, for Oz's sake.

He'd started whining about her not being home enough again. She'd thought he was done with that after they'd has their long discussion about control and love, but she was wrong. Of course, he was subtler about telling her she wasn't around enough. Fiyero and subtle had never gone together well, but he seemed to be getting the hang of it. Elphaba could never pinpoint something he'd said as something that was an attempt at sending her on a guilt trip. She knew it, but she couldn't quite accuse him. The foolish oaf was even proud of it!

She had mentioned it to Fiyero's mother, but the woman hadn't seemed to understand. The woman had even had the nerve to suggest that perhaps it wasn't Fiyero who was controlling. Elphaba didn't try to control Fiyero; the stupid man begged to be controlled. If he didn't follow her around all day making her set rules on when he could be near her, she wouldn't have to tell him what to do. Was there no one on her side?

She flopped down in her chair behind the desk and threw her hands in the air, exasperated. It felt like it had been an incredibly long day, though she knew she'd only made it feel that way by letting Fiyero's actions intrude on her thoughts so much. At least now she'd have a few moments to sort out what was irrational anger and what wasn't. It almost surprised her when Kalendrio walked through the door. "Hi."

He settled himself into a chair beside her. "Hey."

Elphaba forced a smile. "I'm warning you, if you stay, you're in for listening to another rant about my marriage."

"Go ahead, I don't mind. I'm actually pretty used to it," he joked.

She made a face. "They always say you get to love the person you marry more every day, and that's true, I do. But no one ever told me he'd drive me crazier every day."

"Would it have made a difference?"

She laughed. "Probably not. But at least I would have known to expect this. He's being all needy again, and I can't even catch him in the act. I don't when he learned subtlety, but I guess that's what he does when I'm gone all day, because every time I accuse him of something he says being controlling, or needy, he can make it sound perfectly innocent. And that smirk when I finally give in because I really can't prove it… I hate it! It's infuriating."

Kalendrio sat back and listened to her most recent complaints about Prince Fiyero. At first, he'd seen what she meant. But ever since their fight, he was having trouble seeing exactly what the Crown Prince was doing. Maybe she was right and it was subtle. However, maybe she was overreacting and jumping at any sign that he could go back to how he'd been. How could he know, anyway? He only saw them together when Prince Fiyero came to pick her up.

And when Prince Fiyero did come to pick Elphaba up, as always, she was incredibly generous with giving Kalendrio a long, close hug before he left. Kalendrio didn't complain, but Prince Fiyero didn't seem to be too happy about it.

This time, when she hugged him, Kalendrio was almost sure he could see self-satisfaction in her eyes. Was she _trying_ to make her husband paranoid? If that was what irked her about him, why in Oz was she acting the way she was? But he couldn't help that he was making it worse. He didn't even realize for a moment that he had smug look on his face. Well, not smug – after all, she was still going home to her husband – but pleased, perhaps. Not even pleased just… he stopped thinking about that when he realized Prince Fiyero was tapping his foot, pretending to look at the clock to time them and then glancing at Kalendrio's face in a very angry manner.

Chin in the air, she skipped back over to her husband, who slipped an arm around her waist firmly. When Fiyero thought Elphaba wasn't paying attention he looked back at Kalendrio. "If you ever touch my wife any more than that, I will make your life a living hell."

Before Kalendrio could even say anything on his own behalf, Elphaba whirled on Fiyero. "For Oz's sake, you stupid idiot, why do you have to go and say things like that? I've told you a hundred times, at least, that he wouldn't touch me. You always say you wish you could come out here earlier, even if just to sit and talk, too. This is why I don't let you, do you realize that? You can't be around me in a group of people, because the minute I stop paying attention to you, you put on a hissy fit! What in Kumbricia's name is your problem?"

Kalendrio could see that Prince Fiyero didn't like being told off by his wife, especially in public. "Um, Drienna's going to be missing me," he said quickly, "I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow, Elphaba. Good bye, and good luck, your Highness."

And from the rage he'd seen in Elphaba's eyes, Kalendrio thought Prince Fiyero would need a lot of good luck, indeed.


	43. Reminders

**Chapter Forty-Three: Reminders**

She was headed home, quickly, before he even realized what was happening. He took a deep breath and trotted after her. When he thought he was catching up, she picked up her pace. As he got faster, she began to run, swerving in a direction that threw him off for a moment. They continued this unspoken pursuit until they'd reached the castle, at which time Elphaba dashed up the stairs.

He didn't bother to hurry. She'd lock herself in the study, as was her mode of avoiding him. What she didn't realize and he'd never revealed was the fact that his father had the keys to every room in the house, and so did he. Nonchalantly, he wandered into the throne room.

"Your wife just ran down the hall." His father informed him.

"I know. I'll deal with it in a minute." Fiyero grabbed the keys and trudged towards the study. Before slipping the key into the lock, he paused at the door. No pages turning, only a deep, heavy sigh. He could see her in his mind, curled up on the couch, fighting her anger. That was exactly how he found her.

She looked up at him, glaring into his eyes and not speaking.

"I told you not to talk to me that way in front of my subjects," he said softly.

"Is that really what you came in here to say?" She asked, amused.

He didn't answer her question. "You, of all people, understand politics. I can't have my wife snapping at me like that in front of the village people, Elphaba."

"Oh, of course, you and your princely little image!" She hissed. "First of all, he is my friend; he already knew I was going to snap at you anyways. Second of all, I don't give a damn about your political image."

"You have a problem with me, you talk to me. That would make the most sense."

"So I can't confide in anyone because they're not as high status as we are?" She challenged.

"You're twisting my words." Fiyero said. "It's like I can't do anything right, can I, Fae?"

"Oh, don't even start that with me! I'm not going to feel sorry for you, Fiyero."

"No. You aren't. I'm lucky if you feel anything for me." He replied, turning around and walking straight out of the room. Fiyero headed into their bedroom in a daze. Had he really just said that?

"Fiyero!" She called after him.

He didn't flinch. She couldn't win this time. It's the last time.

It was no surprise that she didn't immediately come after him. That would symbolize giving in, and she could never do that. But an hour before dinner, she opened the door and slid into the room. She watched him for a moment, before he realized she was there, as he lay on the bed staring at the ceiling thoughtfully. He looked genuinely hurt, and something about that softened her, if only for a moment. "Fiyero." Elphaba climbed onto the bed and lay down next to him.

"What do you want to scold me for, now?" He didn't turn to her; it alarmed her that he didn't fasten his eyes on her and watch her every movement the way he loved to.

She pressed herself against him gently and wrapped her arms around his waist, like he often did for her. "You know I love you."

He shrugged, attempting to keep himself indifferent and cold. But that was her talent, not his. "Sometimes, Fae, I'm not so sure if _you_ know."

"I told you a long time ago I didn't think I was the sort of person who should be in a loving relationship. You insisted. I thought you knew what you were in for. Fiyero, you irritate the hell out of me, but I can't stop myself from loving you. Nothing's going to change that." She reassured him,

"But you'd want to change that?"

"I'd want to change the fact that I get so irritable with you, yes. It comes with love, you know. All of this stupid fighting and pain, it's what you get in return for the only person in the world who will ever mean more to you than you mean to yourself."

"That last part is true," he said quietly.

"I know." She kissed him on the cheek. "There's hell to go through. If life was as easy as the way it looked to be for us, we would be suspiciously lucky. And believe me, I'm never that lucky. I tried to warn you that you were getting yourself stuck with bad news."

He had to smile a little bit, then. She was always so cynical. "You think that mattered? I didn't care. I don't care. It's you, just you. But you have to understand that things don't work the way you want them to around here, even if it's not the fairest situation. It takes time to change that sort of thing."

"I've always been a bit… radical." She admitted. "I'm not a patient person. I try to be, with you, my hero, but it's hard."

"Is it hard because of me?"

"No, it's hard because of me," she laughed.

He pushed her arms off of him and then snuck his own around her. "But we still love each other, though."

"More than anything," she whispered. "I'm not going to apologize, though."

"I didn't expect you to," he told her. "But I'm not apologizing, either."

"That's a first," she commented.

"I don't think I should have to."

"I think maybe you should, but not to me."

He squeezed her tight. "Fae, my Fae, my sweet, wonderful, beautiful Fae…"

"Stop the flattery and get to the point, Fiyero."

"I trust you completely. I trust that he wouldn't hurt you. But I don't trust that he's only looking for friendship."

She sighed. "He needs a friend, Fiyero."

"He also needs a woman. He is the only single male above twenty in the tribe, Fae. Besides, why you? You don't have to only be his friend. There are plenty of women in the tribe…"

"Who are scared to death of me," she finished. "And they bore me half to sleep! I don't want to hear about the mess their children made of their breakfast this morning, or the best way to clean house. I want intelligent conversation."

He nodded. "I understand that, Fae. You've got me, and I'm sure that's not enough. I've got you and my father. That's barely enough for me. I know my mother doesn't exactly provide the most intelligent conversation…"

"She's fun to talk to," Elphaba said, "she is. She's a kind, funny, quirky woman, but she doesn't really understand the things I feel strongly about, aside from you."

"I'm glad you feel strongly about me."

"That's not always a good thing," she teased.

"Oh, but when you come to bed, I'm not complaining about how strong your passion is." He said, making his voice deeper.

"Shut up." She giggled. "I think… maybe we should finish this talk later. Everything's kind of nice right now."

"I like it that way."

"So do I."

"You're normally the one who stops it."

"Only when you say something that gets to me. Don't say much more tonight than 'I love you', and we'll be fine. I just want to sleep with you right now."

"Sleep with me?"

"Not like that!" She buried her face in her hands. "I'll admit, Fiyero, that it is nice to lie like this, to sleep in your arms, to know as I sleep that, in the morning, I'm still with someone who loves me. I probably wouldn't sleep well without you, either. I've never had to find out. I don't want to. I'm tired now. I don't even want dinner."

"Do you want to get undressed?"

"And encourage sex? Not right now."

"So you're saying we're going to fall asleep on top of the covers in our clothes."

"Pretty much."

"But I can still hold you and tell you I love you?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't mind at all. I'm a little exhausted, too. All of this arguing has worn me out." He turned her to face him and kissed her deeply. "Goodnight."

She turned back to lying on her side and he fastened his arms around her waist, resting his chin on the top of her head. This was comforting and wonderful. It was a bit pathetic, and things weren't right, yet, but she could deal with that in the morning. "Mmmm, goodnight, Yero."

"I love you."

"I love you, too. But if you say another word, we will start fighting… and it won't be with words." She grabbed one of the pillows and thrust it at his stomach.

"Hey!" He barely had time to catch the pillow before she was back in the same position, pretending to sleep. "Well, have it your way." Fiyero settled down next to her, feeling like everything could be fine, now, and stay that way.

He was very wrong.

When she woke up and pried his arms from her the next morning, he stopped her. "One thing, Fae."

"Hurry. I have to change."

He released her and spoke as she fumbled around in the closet. "Remember right after you were sick, and we were talking about how much we love each other?"

"Sure."

"You said that you would've come out here even if you had nothing to do, only for me. I was kind of wishing you'd meant that."

The noise from the closet stopped. "What are you saying?"

"I don't know. It's obvious to me that you couldn't do that – stay out here just for me, I mean. Giving up the school and being with me all the time just wouldn't be possible, not with you. I just remember thinking you might have really meant it, that you might have really loved me that much."

In a different dress, Elphaba stepped out of the closet, hands on her hips, shaking furiously. "You know, I didn't expect to be put on another guilt trip this morning. I was hoping you could wait until later to pull the rug from under me like that, but no. You just can't let me live sanely for more than a few hours, can you?"

"Elphaba, I just meant…"

"I know what you meant. Thank you for reminding me." She turned on her heel and stormed down the stairs. He heard her ask a servant for a piece of toast she could eat on her way, and then he heard the door close.

He was pretty sure he'd reminded her of the wrong thing.


	44. Actions Speak Louder Than Words

_AN: You Fiyeraba crazies are NOT going to like this. But I promise this story stays Fiyeraba. I promised you no non-Fiyeraba sex, and I kept that. And please don't stop reading this, because it is still Fiyeraba, because the love feelings are completely Fiyeraba, and I promise nothing awfully bad is going to happen. I know this was awful enough… just endure… for me?_

_Puts on virtual bullet-proof vest, idea of elphabareincarnated_

_Silently thanks elphabareincarnated, IAmTheWitch and CFK for their help on the past two chapters, IAmTheWitch specifically for this one, especially. Thank you for not shooting me when I told you this idea..._

_one more thanks to elphabathedelirious42, for random entertainment, though I didn't share much with you, you cracked me up and joined my forum_

**Chapter Forty-Four: Actions Speak Louder Than Words**

Elphaba was fuming. She'd been so angry that she'd accidentally ripped her dress on her way out of the Palace and had to hide out in the study until she heard Fiyero leave their room so she could change without him bothering her. Now she wore a simple skirt and blouse, wondering when she'd have the time to fix the dress. _The servants can do it, can't they? _But she'd always been one to do things for herself. However, she suspected if she didn't fix it and the servants found it while cleaning up, they'd take it upon themselves to fix it anyway. It was almost disturbing the way they'd been trained.

And it was disturbing the way everyone was around here. Day after day, she realized how low these people seemed to think they were compared to "Crown Prince Fiyero". Right. Put one of them alone in a room with a bed and food for two days and tell them to sleep for at least eight hours of the time, and then do the same to Fiyero. Fiyero couldn't even sleep without her! It was the most pathetic, irritatingly unmanly, clingy thing he did. Well, maybe not… most things he did fit into all of those categories.

The day did not go well, either. Apparently, one of the children had mentioned to his mother that they called her Miss Elphie, and the mother had been horrified, sternly reminding the boy that she was royalty and nicknames were inappropriate in such circumstances. This morning, the little boy, only meaning well, she understood, had told several of his friends, as well. So Elphaba spent the entire time reiterating that she would rather them call her Miss Elphie than "Princess Elphaba" or "Crown Prince Fiyero's Wife". It made her sick.

At the very end of the day, Drienna came up to her shyly and asked to talk to her. She'd said her father wasn't sure if he wanted her to be in school for the whole summer, and could Miss Elphie please talk to him, because she knew her father would listen to what Miss Elphie said? Elphaba had only nodded and sent the little girl back to her seat with a hopeful smile. Kalendrio must be out of his mind, to keep this little girl from what she wanted!

So, as she had promised, when Drienna hopped home from school with Herndon and Liana, ready to play what sounded like the Vinkus version of cops and robbers, "Royal Guards and Thieves," Elphaba explained to Kalendrio that she thought it would be best for Drienna to be in school, even through the summer, especially considering it was what the little girl really wished to do. It seemed like he agreed. Her mind was still on other matters, though.

"Are you all right?" He asked, the conversation about Drienna over and not seeing the concern leave Elphaba's face.

It was an hour after school already, she knew. The thought made her grimace. Fiyero would be there within an hour. She didn't want to deal with him, not today. Sighing, she turned to her friend and said, "The usual."

"What did Prince Fiyero do this time?"

"I can't even explain this one. He brought up something I'd said, once upon a time, and said he was sorry I hadn't really meant it, that I didn't really love him as much as I'd claimed to."

Kalendrio winced sympathetically. "Ouch."

"It doesn't hurt me so much as bother me. I know he's just trying to send me on another guilt trip, but it makes me angry that he's still doing it. I should know better, thinking he'd stop. We'd had a nice talk, and then he just had to say that this morning." Elphaba clenched her fists, battling remnants of rage.

Kalendrio couldn't help himself; she looked too disappointed. He put an arm around her shoulders. "Does he know what he said upset you?"

"Yes. Do you think that'll stop him?" Elphaba leaned into him a little, not really thinking, just exasperated. "Nothing will. And the fact that he might be right… no. He's not. He's just being stupid."

"As much as I hate to admit this, men can be stupid sometimes. Okay, a lot."

"Well," she smiled at him, "at least you can admit it."

"I have no problem coming out and saying the truth."

"Which, though it can be bad at times, is probably, the majority of the time, a good thing." Elphaba almost giggled, then.

There was a long pause where the two just looked at each other, Elphaba pleading for something – though Kalendrio had no idea what – and Kalendrio wishing to help. When neither of them broke the silence, he leaned in and kissed her.

It wasn't as deep a kiss as the first time; he knew not to push it. But she wanted to push it, suddenly. She was hurt; she was angry; she needed some way to release and work off everything that was building, and she saw no way out. Pushing thoughts out of her mind, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back anxiously. The trick was not to think about it.

He wasn't sure what he'd expected, but he knew what he'd hoped for, and this was it. She was climbing closer to him, pulling at him. Why was he so lost? He'd known what he wanted, shouldn't he have been prepared to take it? Running a hand through her hair, he slipped the other between them and started unbuttoning the buttons at the top of her blouse just enough to slip his hand inside.

She couldn't think. She wouldn't. Silently, she pulled him up off the chairs and led him over to the desk, which she could just lay down on. When he joined her, cautiously holding himself above her by the elbows, she kissed him again, just as fiercely. This was easy, so why should she have to think?

Eagerly, he hiked her skirt up above her thighs, still kissing her, wanting what he hadn't been able to have and wanting it quickly. He tugged at her underwear; the kiss was maddening.

Outside, it hadn't even begun to get dark; summer weather was always light. It was a surprise that neither of them noticed the shadow in the window… well, maybe not, their eyes weren't open half the time, anyway. Fiyero felt ill. He had come in hopes that catching her early would make an apology easier. Well, it seemed there would be no apology. For him, there wouldn't be anything more. He should burst in, scream, demand, snap, hit… but he couldn't. There wasn't anything left. Barely motivated to move, he turned away only because he couldn't bear to see. The Palace loomed in the direction he now faced, and he decided he might as well go home, for this last time.

She just wanted to get this over with, get this done, before she started thinking again. Breaking the kiss, she looked up at Kalendrio as she reached to help him remove his trousers. But something in his eyes changed.

"Wait," he said, breathless. "We can't do it like this. It's too rushed, not enough time to savor this. I don't want to do this when we're both still half-clothed, at least."

She nodded, but shoved his hand away when he tried to help her unzip her skirt or remove her blouse. "I'll do me, you do you, okay?" Scrambling off the desk and to her feet, she marveled at her behavior. No, she wasn't supposed to think! She tried to concentrate on her clothes: the blouse, which had popped at the bottom button, the skirt, the zipper of which was stuck.

"Elphaba?"

She turned to him, shaking her head. He was already undressed. She knew he'd offer to help, but she didn't want him removing her clothes. It was odd, she thought. She was never this way with… oh, shit.

Fiyero. What in Oz was she thinking? Oh, that's right, she hadn't been thinking. But… if she rejected Kalendrio now, what about Drienna? What about the friendship? But – wait… what about her marriage?

"I…" She collapsed against the desk, quickly buttoning her blouse again. "I can't do this. I'm sorry, Kalen."

He blinked, but didn't protest. Slowly, he began gathering his clothing and dressing again. "I shouldn't have…"

"No, I was asking for it. I shouldn't have. Neither of us should have." When she knew both of them were completely respectable-looking again, she stepped near him and took his hands. "I know you think you care for me like that, Kalen. You think you love me. But I love my husband, and I'm sorry. And you… you don't really love me, either. You love me because I remind you of your wife. It's so obvious, Kalendrio. You've made so many allusions to our similarities and I realize you don't really love me. You love that I'm like her. And I don't really love you, I'm just… stupid…"

Clumsily and awkwardly, Kalendrio hugged her. "No. You're not stupid, you're upset. I'm not blaming you for this."

"You won't completely not show up after school? You won't forget that we're friends? You won't make Drienna quit?"

The helplessness in her eyes was pitiful and he realized the motives she'd had for doing what she'd just done. "No. It'll be a little weird," he tried to reason, "but I'm not going to give up our talks, okay?"

She nodded, taking a deep breath. Looking around the room after a long time of standing there, letting him hold her, she murmured, "I think that clock is wrong." Gently, she pulled away from him and looked out the window. She gulped, and when she turned back to Kalendrio her eyes were full of panic. "It's been two hours and fifteen minutes. He's never this late."

Now it seemed like a very far walk back to the Palace. "I could walk you back…"

"Oh, how my husband would love that," she rolled her eyes. But was her husband even looking or caring anymore? Elphaba, the most independent creature in the entirety of the Vinkus, possibly all of Oz, was not very keen on walking home by herself that moment. "But I think that would be a good idea."

He hugged her at the Palace gate after they'd strolled in silence. "I'm sorry."

"No." She looked beaten, and frightened. "I am." She watched him turn around and head back towards the village. "I couldn't be more sorry."

Little did she know that in a few moments, she would be eating her words.

_AN: Don't shoot me? See, she goes back! She stops him! She realizes she loves Fiyero! It's still Fiyeraba!_

_For those of you Fiyeraba/Wicked lovers, come to my site, the link in my profile, I made a nice little thread in the Fanfiction section for Fiyeraba Complexes, lol! We can have a club!_

_If I don't get shot, that is..._


	45. Unanswered

**AN: I know, a really BAD time to leave you guys hanging, of course. But this chapter was difficult, though I wrote it about a week ago. My two pre-readers (IAmTheWitch) and (elphabareincarnated) read it, but IAmTheWitch is quite busy and she wasn't able to until recently, and for this chapter, especially, I wanted her approval. And the next. Yes, two chapters posted. And still we don't know about certain people's lives. But you'll get to that... I'm sorry, guys, I don't know when I'll be able to post next. I've got a summer program where I'm living in a dorm for the next two weeks, and I don't know about internet access, though I will have this computer. With the questionable internet access, and my dire need for my two pre-readers to approve, updates for this may come slowly. I'm sorry.**

**Chapter Forty-Five: Unanswered**

She fixed the popped button on her blouse so it didn't show before stepping into the Palace. It was almost dinnertime; she could smell something cooking, something like pasta. Shaking her head, she snapped out of her hungry mind-set and realized there were other, more important things to be thinking about. Heading to the stairs, she passed the living room, and Fiyero's parents.

"Where's Fiyero?" She asked quietly.

"Oh, there you are! He went out about an hour ago and came home within fifteen minutes, not looking too good. He said he was going to lie down and that it was best he didn't come for you at the schoolhouse today, anyway, because you two had some sort of tiff this morning… or something?" Fiyero's mother waved her arms, not really sure what was going on. "He said to send someone up for him when it was time for dinner."

Elphaba closed her eyes and opened them again, slowly, bringing the room into focus. "Okay."

"Are you all right? Do you need to talk?"

"I'm fine, thank you. I'll just go upstairs now." The only thoughts running through her head were prayers begging Kumbricia that it was nothing more than what Fiyero's mother had said. Somehow, she sensed there was more to it than that. When she stepped into the bedroom, she knew. "Fiyero?"

He looked like he was asleep, and the empty bottle of sleeping drought on the bedside table should only serve as proof. But he'd gotten that from their medicine cabinet, and she knew it was only a few spoonfuls for twelve hours. She tore the covers from the bed and shook him, voice finally breaking with fear.

"Fiyero, damn it!" She fought back dread and checked his pulse. It was faint, but still there. But for how long? With no other ideas, Elphaba rushed to the doorway, called out for his parents and servants and backed away against the desk.

In the resulting commotion, she didn't have time to think. There was a doctor who traveled around to the three tribes throughout the year, and he was headed from the Arjiki to the Scrow, having taken off with his apprentice early that afternoon. A servant could've been sent after him, but Elphaba needed to do something, so she went. As soon as the man heard it was the Crown Prince, he turned around, grabbing a few supplies and leaving his apprentice to bring the rest on the wagon.

They took him out of the bedroom and into the sick room downstairs. Elphaba paced outside the doors as Fiyero's parents sat nervously. She couldn't sit still, then she'd have to think, and that was too much. When the doctor came out, they were told he had overdosed on sleeping draught and that the doctor had gotten as much of it out of his system as possible. Fiyero was still unconscious. He would either wake in a matter of a few days like from a deep sleep, or he would never wake, and die from lack of water and food. Elphaba was not yet allowed in.

She returned to the bedroom, finally deciding she had to allow herself the time for thought. Had he seen something? He hadn't stayed to watch, no. Because then at least he would've seen her stop everything, and she knew, hopeless romantic that Fiyero could be, seeing her stop herself from being unfaithful would at least have given him hope that he could make things better. So, if he had seen, he hadn't stayed. Well, who could blame him? Why in Oz would he want to stay? But why didn't he come in? Say something? Maybe he hadn't been there… she didn't know, and trembled at the thought that she may never know.

Impulsively, she rushed to the desk, finding that something had changed in the room in the past hours. She couldn't name it all, but there were definitely several things missing: from her small, almost untouched emergency sewing kit, the scissors and needles were gone. Slamming the first drawer shut, she opened another, rummaging through it to again find missing items: the somewhat pointy glass paperweight she kept, her secret stash of extra headache pills.

"I did it myself. I didn't want the servants going through your things; I thought it might be easier if I did it myself. Then again, I do wish I'd left a servant to go through the bedside table." Fiyero's mother was in the doorway, biting her lip. "You act like you're much stronger than him, like you need less than him, but I see you with him, sometimes. You need him just as much as he needs you. And I thought it possible you'd resort to…"

"What?" Elphaba turned to the woman, eyes wide. "I am not stupid."

"Are you saying Fiyero is?"

She looked at the ground. "No, he may have had different reasons."

"Did he?" The woman stepped into the room and closed the door carefully. "I can't understand this. But what I do know is that he's attached to you, so something there had to go wrong."

Elphaba shuddered. "We had a fight this morning. He said something and I reacted badly, probably overreacted. What he said made me feel guilty, and I hated that. I never thought that he'd do this."

"There's got to be more than that," Fiyero's mother pressed, "if you had the fight this morning, why did he do it in the late afternoon?"

She wasn't going to explain the rest of her day; after all, she couldn't be sure he'd seen or heard or anything. "I don't know. But I know what you mean, and I probably did cause this. It's my fault," she said softly, "and I am so sorry." It had to be. She was guilty for this, which could kill him, and she knew, in turn, kill something of her, if not all, too. Elphaba choked on a sob. "I don't want to lose him."

"Shhh," Fiyero's mother wrapped Elphaba in her arms, whispering to her like a child. "It's okay. I don't blame you. Shhh."

_But you should blame me. Everything is my fault. This is all me._ "I don't know what to do with myself," she admitted through tears.

"In a few minutes, you can go see him. There's an extra cot in the sickroom so you can sleep in there and be the first one to know if he wakes up. The doctor's gone. He said he'd done all he could and the rest would happen without him the same way it would happen if he stayed. Just promise me, if… when he wakes up, you'll tell us right away."

"I will. Thank you." She knew Fiyero's mother or father could've taken the cot and not allowed her to be alone in the room with him. This was almost too much; it was her fault, she was to blame, after all. "I'm sorry."

"Don't keep saying that." The woman clutched Elphaba's hands. "Are you sure you don't know what happened? Why he'd do this? He didn't leave some sort of note?"

Elphaba shook her head. "He's not the type to leave a note; he's too rash to do that. When he did this, he was already too caught up in something to think about writing notes or anything or anyone else."

"Except you."

"I didn't mean to… I love him… I'm so sorry."

"I told you not to keep saying that. I told you I don't think it was your fault, I'm only asking because I just want to know why he'd do this."

"So do I." Elphaba said softly.

She didn't sleep that night, in the sickroom. It wasn't that the cot was uncomfortable. For a few precious minutes, she thought she might be drifting off, but she kept rolling over, falling off, leaning into things… or arms… that weren't there. Could it be that she was just as pathetic as he was? Was she really unable to sleep without him beside her, too? In the end, she'd crawled into the bed that his unconscious form was lying in, knowing she could do no harm since it was as if he was sleeping, and wrapped her arms around him, tears flowing freely, but no sobs coming. "I love you and I'm sorry. Please don't do this. I can't lose you. I never meant anything hurtful I said or did. I do love you as much as I said, I'm just afraid."

Once, he'd said that she'd never know the anguish he'd gone through when she had been so incredibly ill. Now she did. And she was starting to understand why he didn't want to let her go after it, too. But it may well be too late for understanding.

In the morning, she heard voices outside the door. She got up, gently kissing Fiyero's cheek and checking his pulse to assure he hadn't gotten worse, and moved towards the door.

"We very well can't send her home! They invited her out here, and by the time all of this happened, there wasn't a way to tell her not to come out. She was already on her way. Besides, maybe she'll be of some help, comfort-wise." It was Fiyero's mother.

"If you insist. So, do we tell the girl?" Fiyero's father's deep voice rumbled.

"Would you stop calling her that? She is married to our son; she is not a girl; she is a woman as much as I am. And yes, of course we tell her."

Elphaba rushed back to the cot and pretended to be half-asleep as the doorknob opened.

"Elphaba, honey?"

No way in Oz would I ever put up with being called "honey" in any other circumstance, she thought. Blinking and moving as if wiping sleep from her eyes, she murmured, "What?"

"You're friend is here. The one you and Fiyero invited out for the summer. I think it's best if she stayed. We'll stay in here for a few minutes while you go greet her and help her get settled."

Elphaba nodded and left the room. The familiar sight of blonde curls did not ease her pain, but merely brought her to tears again.

"Elphie?" Glinda stood there, being hugged quite fiercely by Elphaba, which was a change, more than a little confused. "What's wrong? Elphie, what's going on? Everything's so quiet around here."

Elphaba opened her mouth, and almost repeated that she was sorry, but she didn't think that was the right thing. "I… Fiyero… Come on, I'll explain it to you as you unpack," she decided, gathering her wits slightly.

"Um, okay."

On their way up the stairs, Elphaba turned around once and said, "You'll never know how happy I am to see you."


	46. The Concept of Guilt

**Chapter Forty-Six: The Concept of Guilt**

In every secret Elphaba had ever told anyone, there were details she'd held back, little things that felt as if they couldn't be revealed, the whole truth could never be told. But as she helped Glinda unpack, she withheld no piece of the story, no stone was left unturned. She explored everything she'd done and why more than she had bothered to examine when she'd actually done these things. Everything made a terrible, perfect sense now, and she understood herself, her motives, her hidden incentives and the truth. But that didn't make what she'd done any easier.

She had told Fiyero that he was everything to her, as much as she was to him. It had been true. But somewhere along the way, the idea had panicked her, leaving her vulnerable. Need was something that scared her, not death, or pain, or water, _need_. And so she had turned her back on it, denied it, hidden something Fiyero let the world see. She did not think he had been correct in his display, either. Something subtler. But she hadn't even been subtle; she'd simply been cruel and cold. She hadn't shown or admitted to it again, after her one moment of weakness. There was a difference, she realized, between being a strong person and being a cold person.

Glinda looked at her best friend, shocked by her story and her tears. Barely a year had gone by and the life Glinda had been happy her friend was living was close to a nightmare. Instead of trying to look deeper into the story, for that was Elphaba's role, and always would be, she said, "I didn't know Fiyero was that clingy."

"I don't think he meant to be," Elphaba decided. "No, he didn't. The more I pushed him away, the worse it got. It was like he thought that he could convince me to stay with him more if he showed how he needed me, when that only scared me and distanced me more. He should've known better, but it's not even been two years, he still had time to learn…"

"He still has time to learn." Glinda reassured her friend. "But you really thought you could be with another man?"

"No, I was angry, I didn't want to think. And that little girl, Drienna, I can't lose her." Elphaba shot up suddenly. "Oh, the school!" She looked towards the stairs, then outside. "I think," she said determinedly, "I'll have a servant go over and post a sign on the door that school will not begin again until fall. I need to be here with you, and hopefully, Fiyero." She left the room for no more than two minutes and was back walking briskly. "Could we, maybe, talk and everything downstairs in the sickroom? I know I sound a lot like, well, like Fiyero, when I say this, but I don't want to leave him alone for very long."

They moved downstairs and relieved Fiyero's parents from the duty of watching over him. Glinda and Elphaba spent much of their time in the room, except for the night. When it began getting late, Glinda headed to the guest room and Elphaba sat somberly at Fiyero's side. Early morning came and she needed sleep, so for a short hour she crawled again into the bed with him and attempted such. Again, she held him and whispered to him, trying to fight the guilt that rose in her throat and threatened to overcome her.

She didn't eat, though. All the day before she had avoided meals by staying in the sickroom and answering that she wasn't hungry when Fiyero's mother had offered to bring her a snack. When breakfast time came, Glinda was again sitting with Elphaba, and they had lapsed into silence. They were both well aware that if he didn't wake within thirty-six hours, he never would. Fiyero's mother looked concerned when Elphaba once again rejected food, and put extra on Glinda's plate in hopes that Elphaba would eat something.

When Fiyero's mother had left the room, Glinda offered her friend some toast, which she adamantly refused. "Elphie, you have to eat. You haven't eaten since this all started."

"Neither has he," Elphaba said solemnly. "And therefore, I will not."

"You're going to kill yourself! What if he doesn't wake up, Elphie? What then? Will you eat then?"

"What would be the point?" Elphaba retorted, "If he dies, Glinda, because of this, because of me, I'll feel as good as dead."

Glinda felt like she wanted to shake Elphaba roughly, but Elphaba looked much too weak to be shaken. "You have a life aside from Fiyero! You have friends! You can't just abandon us and kill yourself for this!"

"He did," she replied, her lips barely moving. Her hand clutched his and she kissed his fingers softly.

"What has happened to you, Elphie?" Glinda asked. "What in Oz has happened to you? You would never let one person be so important that it would lead to this."

"Not admittedly, no." Elphaba shuddered. "But I don't think I could live, not only without him, Glinda, but with the guilt that he did this because of me, also. How could I live with myself?"

"Didn't you tell me something about believing in Kumbricia? What would that religion say about all this?"

"Kumbricia doesn't condone suicide. But I don't call this suicide, at least not directly. I caused him to do this, and his death will kill me, I will not."

"But isn't that indirectly suicide?" Glinda argued, all of her intelligence spinning in her mind. "If you caused it, you caused your own death."

"Glinda, please. I don't know!" Elphaba exclaimed, dropping Fiyero's hand and standing up. "For right now, I can only concentrate on what will happen if he lives, okay? I'm trying not to consider the other part of this." Tears were running down her face again, but she didn't dry them. She deserved more than just the pain of them, much more.

Glinda took a deep breath and got up to hug her friend. "Okay."

"But… if I'm looking at it that way… what in Oz do I say when he wakes up?" Elphaba wondered, allowing only a short hug and then moving back to Fiyero's bedside.

"You tell him, Elphie. You tell him everything. You tell him what you did, but you tell him you love him, and always will, more than anything. You tell him that you wanted to die when you thought he was dying. You tell him that you never loved anyone else. You tell him the truth."

Elphaba nodded slowly. "After all, there's not much more to say to him than that, is there?"

A knock on the door made both young women jump, and a servant entered. "Mistress Elphaba?"

"Yes? Was everything fine down at the schoolhouse this morning when you checked?"

"Everything was fine, but there had been a note left under the door. I went in and got it for you, if you don't mind. I didn't read it." The young boy left a folded paper on the table near Elphaba. "I can't, after all."

"Thank you." Elphaba said softly. She wondered if, maybe, if and when things cleared up, some of the younger servants wouldn't be allowed to attend the school?

Glinda stood and grabbed the note. "Is this from our Lover Boy?"

"Glinda!" Elphaba exclaimed, "Give me that!"

"I'll read it to you." She said, holding it as far from Elphaba as possible. "If I know it all, Elphie, this can't hurt."

Elphaba didn't see the point of leaving her husband's side to scramble after Glinda for the note, so she gave in. "All right."

Glinda cleared her throat as she unfolded the note, "Ahem. It is labeled, 'Your Highness Princess Elphaba' and it says: 'I know you hate the title, but I thought it best to label it so, because I do believe some people would find it disrespectful if I just wrote on the outer part of this note "Elphaba". You seemed so insistent on continuing school for the summer and now it's cancelled. I heard that Crown Prince Fiyero could die. Intuition tells me it must have something to do with what happened earlier this week. I don't know what he's done, or what you've done, but I do hope you're all right. I apologize again. Drienna misses you, and worries, too. Please let us know what's going on. I'm sorry. Kalen.'" Glinda looked at the signature. "I thought you said his name was Kalendrio?"

"It is." Elphaba shrugged.

"So you gave him a nickname?"

"It was a friendly thing!" Elphaba protested. "I swear."

"And I thought Fiyero might've been paranoid in that letter." Glinda shook her head in disappointment.

"Glinda! I love Fiyero, not this man; I'm making this clear to you! I call him 'Kalen' like you call me 'Elphie'." She explained. "And wait… what letter?"

Glinda bit her lip. "He wrote me a little after you did, begging me to get out here as soon as I could because he thought something might be going on between you and another man at the schoolhouse. He said he trusted you, but he felt like you were pushing him away and something could happen any moment."

For a second, Elphaba was enraged that Fiyero had gone and done that, as she had been with every other desperate thing he'd done. But he'd been right, hadn't he? She looked away from Glinda and ran her hand along Fiyero's cheek. "Yero," she murmured, "I am so sorry. I never meant to…"

Glinda watched Elphaba struggle with her words, but said nothing for a long time. "This other man doesn't seem disrespectful, or anything." She said in an attempt to be comforting. "He seems to understand that you both shouldn't have done what you did and he seems to be sorry. It's like he still wants to be friends with you."

"He's a good man. I gave him all the wrong signs." Elphaba said. "And he needed someone. I took advantage of that to get back at Fiyero for something so trivial." She squeezed Fiyero's hand. "I am the stupidest, most insane woman on the face of this earth, to resent Fiyero for loving me."

"You felt crushed. Maybe he was too close."

"Maybe," Elphaba acknowledged, "but maybe I was too far."

Glinda decided suddenly, "I think it was both."


	47. Ignorance is Bliss

**AN: I'm sorry. As I said, I was going to a writing program and I was there for two weeks. I did have the internet, but I did NOT have the time/privacy to write this. I have another chapter, but it's pretty odd (it has to be, with the way I see it, but I'm going to talk to one of my betas first) so yeah. Anyway, I leave again for a different program July 16th for THREE. Maybe I'll have more privacy/time, maybe I won't. I hope to. But there should be at least another chapter to this and one more to "It All Started at Shiz" before I go, if not more.**

**Chapter Forty-Seven: Ignorance is Bliss**

Glinda asked Elphaba to have another cot pulled in, not explaining exactly why she wanted to spend the night in the sickroom with Elphaba. Elphaba looked weak, which wasn't normal at all. When Glinda suggested a second cot, Elphaba admitted that she didn't sleep on the one that was already in there in the first place and so Glinda could sleep on it, since Elphaba didn't. Glinda gladly crawled into the cot and fell asleep quickly.

Elphaba woke, as usual, every few hours to check on Fiyero during the night; there were less than twenty-four precious hours left. After checking his pulse (and double checking, for she was sure she was dreaming when it had seemed faster), she didn't climb back into the sickbed immediately. She looked down at his face, tears streaming like they had almost too freely recently, and ran fingers through his hair. "I love you. Oh, Fiyero, I'll tell you every night for the rest of my life that you are my world, and I need you. There's nothing in Oz that matters more to me, darling. I promise, I'll spend more time with you. I love you. My sweet diamond boy, I love you so much. Yero my hero," she whispered.

He blinked then, before she'd crawled into bed next to him. She jumped and he smiled weakly. "So this is heaven?"

Elphaba laughed helplessly. She caressed his cheek. Biting her lip to keep from sobbing, she blinked rapidly, letting tears create burning rivers down her cheeks. "Yero?" Part of her was afraid to believe she'd been given him back.

"If you'd stop crying, heaven would be a bit better." He commented.

"Oh, Fiyero!" She cried, clutching his hand in hers and shuddering with relief.

This caused Glinda to wake and sit up, but neither of them noticed. The blonde crept closer to the side of the bed, not speaking. She knew they needed a moment.

"I didn't think heaven had yellow walls." Fiyero muttered.

Elphaba shook her head softly. "What's with all this talk about heaven?"

"Isn't that where I am?" He murmured.

_He can't have gotten even denser, really,_ Elphaba thought. Instead of correcting him, though, she asked, "What makes you think that?"

"Because the only way you'd ever say those things to me and be here with me like this is if I was in heaven." He replied.

Elphaba closed her eyes slowly, feeling the guilt return to eat at her insides again. Opening her eyes again, she mumbled, "I see," and left the room tearfully, losing control of the sobs before she'd even opened the door.

Glinda now stepped right up to the side of the bed. "You are an idiot, you know that?"

"This is coming from you, right? I'm wondering why you're here, in _my_ heaven. I mean, I understand why Elphaba is… oh!"

"What?" Glinda folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot.

"Well, when I was growing up, we were taught that heaven was all we'd ever wanted. All I've wanted is Elphaba, and for her to be happy. I guess you're here because you help her happiness." Fiyero realized.

The blonde struggled to remind herself that Fiyero had just come out of two and a half days of unconsciousness and that it would, therefore, be wrong to smack him. "Fiyero, you stupid creature, you are not in heaven! You just made your wife run out of the room crying because you don't seem to think she treats you right normally. This is not heaven, Fiyero. I don't know what makes you think you're dead, but you certainly seemed to wish it, before."

"What?" Fiyero blinked.

"Don't you remember taking the sleeping potion?" Glinda asked, stunned.

"I just remember something about the morning, and Elphaba getting a little mad. And then…" He only put his hand to his forehead. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, sweet Oz…" Glinda whispered to herself. She looked up at a noise from the doorway; Fiyero's parents must've somehow gotten the news out of Elphaba that he was awake. Allowing his parents time, she dashed into the hall and looked for Elphaba, finally finding her in the bedroom, her body almost convulsing against the sobs. "He doesn't remember."

Breathing heavily and sniffling, Elphaba turned her head. "What?"

"He doesn't remember anything after the morning you fought, Elphie."

Elphaba's breathing slowed. "Not even…?"

"Not even." Glinda confirmed.

"Sweet Oz," Elphaba said incredulously. "He doesn't remember trying to kill himself?"

"Not at all. He told me the last thing he remembers is getting you a little angry in the morning." Glinda told her.

"Great. As if I don't feel guilty enough."

"What do you mean?"

"The comment he made about heaven, Glinda. I thought it wasn't just that he thought I don't take care of him; I thought it was him being thankful that I wasn't with Kalendrio." Elphaba buried her face in her hands. "Was I that terrible of a wife?"

"I don't know, Elphie, I wasn't there. And different people define that different ways, you know that. Though, from the way you described it, it didn't sound like you were being very loving."

She nodded. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Make it up to him. That's all you can do, Elphie."

Elphaba sighed. "I wish this hadn't had to happen. It shouldn't have taken this much for me to realize I was wrong."

"Elphie?"

"What?"

"What are you going to tell him?"

"I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"About what happened. Are you going to explain to him what he saw?" Glinda pressed.

"And break his heart all over again?"

"Don't you think he needs to know?" Glinda retorted.

"Glinda, it would hurt him so much. Look at how he reacted! Why should I tell him?"

"He deserves to be told! You can't just not tell him just because you got lucky and he doesn't remember seeing it. And besides, you didn't end up having sex with Kalendrio, you realized yourself. Don't you think it would help a little to tell him that?"

"No, because he doesn't have to know I even considered it!" Elphaba argued, face flushed. She sat up straight on the bed and looked at Glinda. "I've been given another chance, Glinda. I can't just ruin it."

"No one's given another chance with a completely clean slate, Elphaba. It's unfair of you to just hide it from him when he would've known." Glinda insisted, hands on her hips. "He should have the right to decide how he feels with all of the knowledge he had."

"Don't you get this? It would kill him! I can't do that. Glinda, I love him. That's all he needs to know." Elphaba stood up, pushed past Glinda and rushed down the stairs, Glinda following regretfully.

Fiyero's mother was just exiting the sickroom. "He's doing all right," she informed Elphaba. "He just doesn't seem to be able to tell us what happened."

Elphaba nodded and walked through the door with Glinda behind her. Fiyero's mother stayed in the doorway. "Fiyero?"

Fiyero sat up and smiled at Elphaba. "Fae, I'm sorry."

Elphaba looked at him questioningly. "For what?"

"For what I said about heaven. I was a little out of it…"

"No, you're right. I'm sorry, Yero." Elphaba took his hand. "And I love you. It just worries me that you did something like this."

"I don't understand why I did it." Fiyero said. "I don't remember any of it."

"Maybe," Elphaba whispered, throwing Glinda a harsh look and then glancing lovingly back at Fiyero, "we might never know."


	48. All the Wrong Ways Not to Hurt Someone

**AN: I know the entire sexuality and concept of this chapter is going to seem a bit odd, but it's the one thing that would be affected immediately, with the way I look at it. And yes, I know all of you think Elphaba wouldn't hide this, but she wouldn't want to hurt him, either, would she?**

**Chapter Forty-Eight: All the Wrong Ways Not to Hurt Someone**

Something was very wrong, and Glinda was well aware of it. Elphaba had persuaded her to stay and help out with the school for at least the first part of the year, and so Glinda had stayed. It was only days until the school year began and a month and a half since Fiyero had woken from his unconscious state, but something was terribly off kilter. She could see it in Elphaba's eyes every time Elphaba and Fiyero were around each other. Something wasn't working.

Fiyero didn't understand what was wrong. He loved Elphaba as he had before, but whenever he started getting close to her intimately, something drew him back, and he didn't know why. She knew it, too. Elphaba had tried to arouse him, to get him to make love to her, and though it had excited him and his body was all for it, something nagged in the back of his mind. It hurt Elphaba badly, especially when he'd insisted they start sleeping in nightclothes instead of sleeping nude.

That had been two weeks after he'd recovered, and she'd nuzzled against him as they were falling asleep, innocently pressing her body to his and smiling at him teasingly with her eyes. Instead of letting his body respond any more than it already had (he'd gotten quite uncomfortably aroused), he had just suggested that she put on a nightgown. They were no longer a young, reckless married couple, he'd reasoned, and they'd matured; there was no need for them to keep lying in bed to sleep naked.

Slowly, she'd made her way over to the closet, taking as much time as she could, trying to get him to think the better of his decision. And in the end, he hadn't been able to take it. He'd shoved her up against the wall and had her. But to Elphaba, it felt like he was almost purposely taking her at an angle that was so uncomfortable it almost hurt. It wasn't necessarily that they were standing; it was just that he knew how to please her, and that hadn't been how. Fiyero hadn't taken his time, like he'd used to, drawing out the pleasure and waiting until she'd been satisfied once, if not twice. It was as if he'd just wanted to get rid of the need to do it. He'd left her so quickly that some of his juices had splattered all over her. When it had been over, he'd looked at her coldly and told her to clean herself up and put on a nightgown. He'd left the room to use the bathroom, and she'd simply sank to the floor and cried.

He didn't want to "make love" to her, Elphaba figured, he just wanted to have her as quickly as possible and have his release. She didn't doubt that he could've done it properly if he'd wanted to; she simply knew he didn't want to and so he hadn't. It'd happened twice more since then, and neither time had been any good for either of them, because Fiyero hadn't wanted it to be. Both of the other times hadn't been in their bed, either. Once he'd had her on the floor next to the bed, pushing at her so hard she'd bruised her back from the roughness of the stone. She'd felt worthless afterwards, disgusting and used, and she'd cried again. The other time, she'd gotten out of bed early and had been in the middle of changing when she looked at him. He'd looked so peaceful sleeping, so she sat down in the chair near the dresser and watched him sleep for a little while. Fiyero had woken up, then, and then he'd had her in the chair, again being so forceful with her that she'd hurt herself. She hadn't been able to hold back her tears until it was over, either, but he'd ignored them.

In any other situation, they were no different then they had been before, though she had a feeling that those moments, too, would change if she didn't do something soon. At a different moment, he'd hold her hand, drape an arm around her shoulders, kiss her on the cheek or hug her close. But there was a distinct air of discomfort around them. Glinda noticed all of this and waited for Elphaba to come to her and explain, looking for help. Elphaba didn't like to admit to problems or talk about what was going on, so it took some time for her to knock on Glinda's door, but it was really no surprise when she did.

She'd come into Glinda's room with a half smile, unsuccessfully attempting to hold up her façade. But the moment she'd sat down on the bed next to her best friend, her face fell and she said, "I can't take this anymore."

Glinda scooted closer to her. "What are you talking about, Elphie?"

"Fiyero. I could deal with not having sex if he didn't have to act this way about it."

"You're not having sex?"

"Well, pretty much…" Elphaba took a deep breath and explained, in not so much detail, what had been going on. She simply explained that they'd only had sex three times (she refused to say "made love", because it certainly didn't feel like that's what it was), and that he'd purposely made it uncomfortable and rushed. She explained how, when she tried to initiate something, he'd reject her.

"He treats you like crap whenever you have sex and you just put up with it?" Glinda demanded.

"First of all, he's good to me almost any other time, Glinda. And I feel bad, after everything that's happened. I have to be a good wife, now, remember? Besides, I can't help but hope that it'll start to feel right, even though I know it won't, not with the way he does it. He's doing it intentionally. I know it. I just don't know why."

"Have you talked to Fiyero about it?"

She shrugged. "I've tried. Every time we try to talk about it, he gets all funny. He says he does want me, and that he'd like to make love to me, but something in the back of his mind won't let him. He doesn't know why that something won't let him, but it won't. And so he doesn't. I don't understand him at all."

After a long pause, Glinda said quietly, "Did you ever consider that something in the back of his mind remembers? Maybe something in the back of his mind is saying: 'don't touch her, she's had another man'."

"But I didn't!"

"He doesn't know that, Elphie, remember? You don't think he stayed long enough to see you turn Kalendrio away." Glinda reminded her. "This might be what you get for not telling Fiyero what happened."

Elphaba glared at Glinda, despising that she was right. "So what do I do? I can't very well just tell him now."

"Yes, you can. And you have to."

"Oh, and what am I supposed to say? 'I'm sorry I lied to you about not knowing why you tried to kill yourself, but I'm almost positive I know why.'"

"You'll have to figure that out for yourself, Elphaba. But if you want to fix this completely, you have to tell him. It wasn't fair not to tell him before, but you didn't then. Now you have no choice except to do so. If you'd have just told him in the first place, you wouldn't have this problem."

"I just can't imagine how I'm going to explain all of this without hurting him."

"Maybe it's not possible not to hurt him. But you have to tell him, or things are just going to get worse between you two." Glinda sighed. "I envied your marriage, Elphaba. I envied how much he cared for you and how he pleased you and loved you and did whatever you asked. I thought it was cute the way you two tried to keep your hands off of each other but really couldn't. Now there's nothing to envy. Don't you want all of that back, Elphie?"

She nodded. "Of course I do. But I don't want…"

"I know. But it's probably hurting him just as much that the two of you can't be the way you used to be. It's one or the other. He'll get over it, if you explain it right, Elphie. However, if you leave it like this, there will be no getting over anything, and it'll only get worse."

"I guess that's true," Elphaba admitted. She stood up and looked towards the doorway. "I'll talk to you later."

"What are you going to do, Elphaba?"

"I think I'm going to explain." She decided, and left the room, trudging solemnly down the hall to find Fiyero and tell him the story that, she felt, might as well break his heart


	49. If I Told You

**AN: Haha! I am doing a random Idina Menzel song quote! I'm not the only one whose done this, though, am I? Coughs Anyway, yeah, but I'm not hiding random lines of random songs in my story, I'm just using the quote to introduce my chapter like an author would. It would be more fun to do it the other way, but I'm lazy. And when you read this, yes, Elphaba's a bit oversensitive, but everything scares her when it comes to losing Fiyero now. And yes, Fiyero's a bit too forgiving, but he loves her and he can't help it. He's naive.**

**Chapter Forty-Nine: If I Told You**

_"If I told you that I lie sometimes,  
If I told you that I run away,  
If I told who I was before,  
would you follow me?_

_If I told you that I sneak sometimes,  
If I told you that I love too much,  
If I showed you the other side,  
would you follow me?"_

She found him with his father and beckoned him into the hall. "We need to talk."

"Now?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yes." She affirmed.

"One moment," he grumbled. Fiyero disappeared back into the throne room and was back out in a moment. "So?"

"Come with me," she said, taking his hand and leading him to their bedroom. Ignoring the skeptical look in his eyes, she sat him down on the bed and sat next to him, still clutching his hand. "Now, we're going to talk about something, and one or both of us may get very angry. But I want you to promise me, and I'll promise you, that no matter what, we're going to sit right here and talk about this as calmly as possible." Last time she'd insisted on this arrangement, it had been for Fiyero's benefit. This time, it was for her own.

"Sure," Fiyero shrugged.

"Okay." She breathed in deeply for a minute before beginning. "Yero, I know what's nagging at the back of your mind, why you won't make love to me."

"Elphaba," he turned his head, but didn't move to get up, "I thought we talked about this already."

"We did. But I know why you're doing it."

"Oh, really? Then please tell me, because I have no idea."

"I plan to. I also happen to know why you took that sleeping potion."

"So how many little things have you been neglecting to tell me?" Fiyero accused.

"One." She said quickly, tearing up. Her lip quivered and tears began. "It's all related. Please, let me go on. Maybe you'll understand why I didn't want to tell you."

"I can't imagine you had a good reason." But he wasn't so accusing. Her tears unnerved him; they weren't something he was used to, at least hadn't been used to.

"Oh," Elphaba chuckled bitterly, wiping her tears, "but I did."

Fiyero looked at her curiously. "Go on."

For a moment, she reconsidered. After all, why should she care if he made love to her at all? Their relationship wasn't about sex, anyway. But it was getting in the way. The few times when they did, he went about it making her feel awful. That should matter. And it wasn't only the sex that had become awkward. There were other things wrong, things she couldn't seem to place. Sex does help lovers feel infinitely closer to one another, and the sudden loss of that for no understandable reason was separating them, and it was keeping them more distant than she'd ever wanted them to be. "You're not going to like this."

"If you dragged me in here and away from helping my father with an important governmental decision just to argue that you shouldn't tell me whatever it is you wanted to, I'm not going to be happy with you, Elphaba."

"Fae," she corrected quietly.

"What?"

"You barely ever call me 'Fae' anymore. That's all. I liked it." She blinked slowly and then turned back to him. "Never mind that. The night before you tried to kill yourself, we had a sort of disagreement that we'd solved pretty easily and we fell asleep next to each other happy, actually. But the next morning, you mentioned how I'd once said how much you meant to me, and that it was too bad it wasn't true. This enraged me, because you were right. It was true that I wasn't treating you as if you meant the world to me, even though you did, and you do, and I'd do anything to prove that, now."

"But what does that have to do with what I did?"

She nuzzled her head against his shoulder for a moment before continuing. "I was so angry that I was irrational. I went to the schoolhouse and had a difficult time with the kids. Then Drienna told me that Kalendrio was considering taking her out of school for the summer and she didn't want to leave. So, by the time Kalendrio came, I was mixed up with a bunch of different unhappy emotions. I was pissed off at you, upset about the day I'd had and distressed for Drienna."

Fiyero bit his lip. "And then you…"

She nodded and hung her head. "You're remembering now, aren't you?"

"I came to get you and saw you in the window. I couldn't watch you betray me."

Sobs catching in her throat, she tried, "Look, there's no excuse for what I did. But I knew it was wrong. Fiyero, you left before you could see…"

"See what? See you let some other man have his way with you because you were 'upset' and 'distressed'?" He finally ripped his hand out of hers. Fiyero clutched at the sides of the bed, shaking. Oh, how badly he wanted to get up! But he'd agreed he wouldn't, and he wasn't going to go back on that. Yet he couldn't look at her.

"No!" She exclaimed. "No, Fiyero. You left before you could see me put a stop to it. He kissed me and I let him. He touched me and I let him. But when he tried to undress me, something felt wrong, Yero, and I knew I couldn't do it. I felt sick with myself for even letting it get as far as I did." Elphaba wrapped her arms around him in a hug, and didn't move when he was unresponsive. "You haven't been able to touch me intimately because you can't deal with the fact that someone else had done the same. But no one has, Yero. I promise you." Elphaba was crying openly now; she didn't care if he saw.

He shifted out of her grasp, trying not to let her tears affect him too much. "How do I know you're not just saying that because you can? How do I know you're not just taking advantage of the fact that I didn't stay and lying to me?"

"Because the only way I only knew you'd left was the fact that you would've reacted differently if you'd seen it all. I know you, Fiyero. You went home and tried to kill yourself because you felt like I didn't love you anymore, and that you couldn't live with knowing I'd had sex with another man. And you haven't been able to touch me because something in the back of your mind remembers what you saw and assumes the worst. But I do love you, and I never got closer than seeing him almost naked."

"You saw him almost naked?" Fiyero glanced at her, half disturbed and half amused.

"Okay, pretty much naked." She admitted, wincing as if something had hit her. After a moment, she explained, "When he tried to undress me, I pushed him away and told him I could handle myself. So he undressed, looking away from me, while I struggled with myself and tried not to think of the wrong I was doing. But you're always on my mind, and I couldn't let myself do it. I turned around and he was fully undressed, but I wasn't much different from before I'd pushed him away."

He examined her face achingly. "You're not lying."

"No, I'm not. And now you know what happened. You can be as mad at me as you want for all of this, but at least you're not unconsciously believing that I did more than what actually happened. It honestly wouldn't have been good for me, anyway, from what I saw of him compared to what I always see of you," she teased lightly, trying to divert his attention, to make him feel better.

A stroke of his ego helped, though it didn't soothe his anger completely. "What makes you say that?" He couldn't help it. He already knew she'd seen another man naked, the details weren't going to bother him anymore than the sheer fact.

She made a hand gesture, blushing wildly. "After making love with you, I don't see how anyone the slightest bit… smaller… could satisfy me, anyway. I wouldn't want to find out to begin with," she reassured him.

"You little…"

"What? It's the truth!" She giggled a little bit, the tears almost unevident. Looking back into his eyes, her expression eased and she whispered, "I love you more than anything. I'll do whatever I can to show you that. And I never had intercourse with anyone else, anything you think will prove that, I'll do, too."

"Fae," he murmured, "why'd you have to even try?"

"There's no excuse. To my irrational mind, the excuse was my rage and anguish. But I know it was wrong. I'd never even think about it again. I won't even hug the man or shake his hand again if you'd like."

"Would it seem possessive if I didn't want you alone with him again?"

"No, not at all. It's my fault you wouldn't trust me with him."

"I trust you, I do. Even knowing what you did, at least you stopped. But I can't trust that you won't get so angry you won't think."

"I do tend to do that a lot, don't I?" She asked softly.

"Just a bit." He smiled. "I do think I remembered, somewhere. You're right."

"But now you remember and you know what happened afterward. Never assume things, my Yero."

"Hmmm, I think I'll have to see for myself if you haven't done anything," he said huskily.

Her eyes widened, "How?"

"I think I'd be able to feel the difference, if I did it the way I used to, don't you?" He pushed her back onto the bed and climbed over her, unbuttoning her nightgown. "Damn, why'd I suggest this nightclothes thing again?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, Fiyero, you're such a silly man."

He was already on his own clothes, and he was gently nibbling on her neck. "I do believe you wouldn't like it if I was too serious. I love you, Fae."

"Fiyero!" She cried, helpless, closing her eyes and losing the last remnants of worry and sorrow, losing herself.


	50. Old Scars and New Ideas

**AN: This is a weird time to bring this up, but we don't have an official name for a Glinda-Boq pairing. And yes, this is really weird because I don't even plan on usinga Glinda-Boq pairing in THIS story, so why I'm mentioning it here is only because I was reading someone's review who didn't know what to call it... Okay, guys, link to my special Wicked forums is in my profile. Thankgoodness... I'll start a discussion.**

**Chapter Fifty: Old Scars and New Ideas**

He ran his fingers along the line of her cheek later, as she slept. Glinda had been by, meaning to check and see if Elphie was all right (she'd obviously known something had been going on) and had smiled when she'd opened the door and found Fiyero holding a very faintly conscious Elphaba, who was smiling slightly in her sleep. She'd made eye contact with him and nodded approvingly, everything that had happened recently understood in one glance. Elphaba had sighed a little and stretched out, but hadn't opened her eyes. They had both held back a laugh.

Fiyero's fingers traced the rivulets along her cheeks that had confused him for a few minutes, until speculation and close following had led the exact line of them to the tear ducts of her eyes down to the sides of her chin. The scars her tears had made as they burned their way down her cheeks were not visible, but they were there. He could feel it under his fingertips, created only by days and weeks of tears. So she had cried for him. Well, he had noticed that her tears came easier now, especially in regards to him. He'd loved Elphaba's strength, but he also cherished the idea that she had fallen apart without him, that her rarely mentioned need of him was real. "Oh, my Fae," he murmured, kissing the indented line gently.

"Mmm," she mumbled, her eyes scrunching more closed and then open. "How are you, my sweet?" Elphaba reached a hand up to touch his face and he took it in his and kissed it, causing her to giggle.

"I'm doing pretty darn good, I think. I'm lying in bed with my beautiful wife, who loves me, and we don't have to get up for another few hours, at least I think we don't. Unless there's a storm making it so dark, it's still nighttime." He observed. "But I am a bit curious."

"You are?" She smiled. "What about?"

He settled down next to her, keeping their eyes level. "Well, Fae," he said, propping his head up in a hand, "why didn't you tell me everything right after I'd woken up?"

The smiled dimmed a bit and she shifted in bed. "I'm not going to lie. A big part of it was that I thought I could get away with it and you'd never have to know. But the other part was the fact that I didn't want to do that to you all over again, cause you all of that heartache when you'd already faced it once, whether or not you remembered."

He nodded. "That's reasonable enough. I just thought that, knowing you, and how guilt tends to eat away at you, and how you pride yourself on keeping the truth where it needs to be, you would've said something earlier."

"I guess I'm a bit more selfish than you think, my love, or more concerned for your feelings… or both. Either way it was some fear of losing you that made my decision, and there was no changing that." She took her hand out of his and adjusted her position, her head cradled in the curve of his neck. "Just the few days when I'd woken without you holding me so desperately tight made me nervous, and I couldn't just live like that. I had to crawl into the sick bed with you at nights, actually."

"You did? And you admit to it?" He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her, loving the intimacy of the smell of her hair, the feel of her bare skin against his – even in a non-sexual way. Fiyero hadn't realized how much he'd missed these small familiarities that came after or during lovemaking. He'd been too busy trying to avoid the lure of her body altogether.

"I do. And I won't take it back. I couldn't sleep well, otherwise. It's true." She snuggled into him more, brushing her chin against his lower shoulder and chest. "I love you, Fiyero. I always have. No matter what I say or do, never doubt it."

"Hopefully you won't do or say anything that would cause me to doubt it again." He replied. "But even so, even if you did, I do believe I'd still love you. That doesn't stop. I should be angry with you right now. I should've yelled and turned you away, but I couldn't help but make love to you and hold you. I need this, and I need you."

"I need you, too," she informed him again, "I really do."

The school year started up again under tense circumstances. Elphaba had written a letter to Kalendrio, of course, and told him that Fiyero knew everything that had happened. She'd also insisted that Drienna continue attending the school. Thus, Fiyero insisted not only on coming right after school would be let out, but at least half an hour before. Elphaba knew this would create an unwanted reaction in the children, but she couldn't argue with him. He had a right to want to be there, and she didn't mind him. The only thing she could do was tell him to not let the children see him and to behave if Kalendrio happened to come to pick Drienna up, which he did.

Fiyero had come in through the back door of the schoolhouse, unnoticed by any of the children. When Elphaba had dismissed the children, he'd come out of the shadows only slightly so she knew he was there. She'd smiled at him and hugged him lovingly when there were only a few kids left. It was then that Kalendrio came to get Drienna.

"Hey, Elphaba…" He trailed off, seeing Fiyero standing just behind her, her hand in his. "Um…"

Elphaba tensed, feeling Fiyero's grip on her hand tighten so much she thought she'd lose circulation. "Relax love," she murmured from the side of her mouth, "please." She squeezed his hand and, staying where she was, told Kalendrio, "Drienna's doing wonderfully."

Glinda, who'd been half-teaching (they were beginning a routine where she would teach one day and Elphaba the next, giving Elphaba time to spend the day with Fiyero every other day, but they hadn't gotten to the point where Elphaba thought Glinda could take the children for an entire day yet), walked up to Kalendrio and stuck her hand out. "Kalendrio, I take it?"

Kalendrio stared at her for a moment, unable to understand, perhaps, or entranced, confused, possibly something else. It was unreadable. He then looked to Elphaba for an explanation.

"Kalendrio," Elphaba began, still holding Fiyero's hand behind her, "this is Glinda, a good friend of mine. She's going to be taking over every other day, at least for the first half of the year. We all agreed," she caught Fiyero's eye for a moment, "that it was best for me not to spend so much time here."

Kalendrio nodded. "Probably," he said quietly. "Look, Prince Fiyero, I'm sorry."

"Don't," Elphaba said quickly. "Wait until it's blown over. Not now, Kalendrio."

Fiyero didn't even look at Kalendrio; he only stared down at Elphaba, watching her as if he couldn't take his eyes from her – as if he never had. She turned to him with an apology in her eyes and he just kept looking at her, holding her with his eyes. Elphaba smiled at him comfortingly. "Maybe we'd better head back."

"You two head home," Glinda decided on whim, "I'll stay here. I think I'd like to meet a few of the parents that are still around."

"But there's barely anyone else…" Fiyero began.

Elphaba elbowed him in the ribs. "Yero!" She dragged him outside and then said, "I think she just wants to know about him, all right? She knows what happened, of course she's curious."

Fiyero shrugged. "Whatever. You're with me and that's all that really concerns me at the moment."

"I'm glad you care if something happens to Glinda," Elphaba said sarcastically, leaning into him.

"You know what I meant, Fae."

"I know." He wrapped an arm around her waist and walked with her in silence, contentedly. When they reached the Palace, they sat together in the study reading and cuddling. He ran his fingers through her hair when he became bored of his book, but she was still enthralled by whatever she was reading.

She turned a page, looked up at him and smiled sweetly. There was some talking downstairs and she muttered, "Sounds like Glinda's back."

"Do we have to get up and greet her?" Fiyero asked, too comfortable to want to move.

"She'll find us. We can be lazy. I don't want to stir even the least bit. All I want is just to stay here, with you. I wish I'd known a long time ago that something so simple is really all I needed. But I know now." She kissed him and went back to her book.

"What in Oz are you reading that's so interesting?" He stole the book from her and examined it. Fiyero raised his eyebrows at her.

"I was curious!" She claimed, holding her hands in the air like a robber caught red-handed. "And I only meant to… with you… I mean…"

Fiyero grinned and opened the book. "I think I want to read this, now, too. I didn't know we had this sort of thing in the castle."

"You never looked. At least you never looked at a time when it was actually possible for you to possess it. It was pretty high up, anyway. I had to practically climb the shelves to reach it."

"You were that insistent on it, were you?" He chided.

"Yero!" Elphaba groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Fiyero pulled her even closer. "So, what do you say we read this together?" He flipped through some pages. "Oh, look! Diagrams."

"I was saving that part for a time when you weren't right next to me." Elphaba muttered. She tried to crawl out of his grasp but he had her too tight. "Yero, no. It makes me uncomfortable to read this with you." Pathetically, she covered her eyes.

"Yet you were fine by yourself?"

"I guess. I don't know. Don't do this to me." She pleaded. "Besides, Glinda's coming up. If she sees us reading that, she'll never get over it."

"Fine." Fiyero closed the book. "But I'm definitely going to be reading this as my 'before bed' reading." He quickly placed it under a pillow as the door opened.

"You know, Elphaba," Glinda said, looking rather excited, "even if he was willing to let you cheat on Fiyero, your friend is quite interesting."

Fiyero and Elphaba looked at each other and gulped.


	51. Secrets and Knowledge

**AN: Yes, look! It's another random update of something other than the stuff I've been crazy with updating recently! Don't you love it when I do this? I don't. You know what it means? It means I had this idea in the middle of the night and kept thinking about it until at 4 in the freaking morning, I had to finish it by typing it out. I hate that. I got no sleep. Damn this. Well, yeah. I don't know if I'll update this one again soon, or what'll be next, but here's this for you all.**

**Chapter Fifty-One: Secrets and Knowledge**

The day Elphaba felt comfortable enough to let Glinda take her first charge of the school, Elphaba and Fiyero spent the entire morning lounging around in bed. It had felt so good to be lazy and to lie next to each other without the notion that either of them would have to get up and leave soon. Come late afternoon, they got up but still didn't leave the bedroom. Elphaba stretched a little and laid back down, flopping onto her stomach. Fiyero watched her for a moment and realized how tense she was. She was nervous about Glinda's success with the children, he saw. And maybe not just that.

It had only been a week since Glinda had met Kalendrio, but they seemed to be enchanted by each other. This made Elphaba nervous, because Glinda was her best friend and anyone who wasn't Boq couldn't be trusted not to try to touch her at some point. Part of her mind reminded her that half of the point of a relationship is to be touched, to be held and loved, but she still balked at the idea of Kalendrio and Glinda. Fiyero balked at the idea of Kalendrio altogether. So they both were uneasy about the two's relationship, whatever that may be.

Fiyero sighed and grabbed the half-empty bottle of oil from the bedside table. He took some in his hands and began to rub it on her, starting at the top of her shoulders, taking care to massage them gently to ease the pressure and strain on her muscles. His hands lowered and his attention did, too. She welcomingly turned over when he'd gotten all of her back, and he slipped his hands around her legs and finally between them, speeding the movement of his well-lubricated hands. Elphaba sighed and smiled, but her eyes were closed and she didn't look like she wanted much more. The moment his hands left her front, she flipped over again.

He stared at her, watching her body move as she breathed. She had to be almost sleeping and he wanted her badly. Fiyero could care less about foreplay or games at the moment, he wanted to make love to her and he didn't care about any prelude. Attempting to distract himself, he rummaged through the bedside table nearest Elphaba's side of the bed. There were a few bottles of oils, old letters they'd written to one another and a full container of pills. The prescription implied that the container should've been half empty, but not a single one was missing. Birth control pills, he saw, and then looked at her again. "Elphaba," he said loudly.

She turned on her side slightly and glanced at him. "What?"

He handed the pills to her. "Why haven't you taken them?"

She shocked him. Fiyero had half-expected her to tell him that she was a month or two pregnant, but that was certainly not the answer he received. "Something went wrong with them," she explained hesitantly, "and the midwife suggested I stop taking them several months ago, even if I didn't want to get pregnant. Fiyero," Elphaba sat up and took his hand, biting her lip, "I can't have children."

Fiyero blinked slowly. "What?"

"The pills were only released as medication a year before I started taking them. No one knew the long-term effects. I'm so sorry." She swallowed hard and moved her head so he couldn't see her as a tear dripped onto the bedspread.

Fiyero sat down next to her, the bottle of pills clattering to the ground. He didn't know what to say. How was he supposed to create an heir to the throne? What would satisfy their aging bodies when they became crooked and less eager to make love if it wasn't taking care of children? "I…"

"I understand the need for a descendent. If it's the only way, you could maybe impregnate some unmarried servant girl and I'll… raise the child as our own, I guess."

"I couldn't bring myself to make love to anyone else."

"You still love me?" She asked, fearfully.

"I never only loved you for the fact that you could give me children, Fae. In fact, it wasn't even a reason at all. It doesn't change anything."

"Then what do you do? Who takes the throne after you, Fiyero?"

"Hell, I don't know, but I don't care at all. I've still got you, haven't I?"

She smiled faintly. "I guess."

"No guessing about it." As if to prove this, he kissed her deeply. He pushed her back on the bed gently. "Come to think of it," he said between kisses as he caressed her breasts, "I'm kind of glad."

"Why?"

"I get to be the only person to ever do this," he bent his mouth down and sucked at her breasts lightly. "I wouldn't want to share you, anyway."

"Well," Elphaba giggled, "that's selfish."

"I don't think so. I'd very much like to say I am the only being to ever be inside you." Fiyero said, nudging her legs open and sliding inside.

Elphaba wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up into his eyes. She began to rock her hips to the rhythm of his thrusts. "Mmm. You feel so good."

After some time, he adjusted so the angle he was hitting was different. "I would hope that I do."

"Oooh!" She squealed. Something sweet and forbidden – well, forbidden to anyone but him – that woke within her only when she was with him was beginning to stir again. Eagerly, she wrapped her legs around his waist.

He took this as an invitation to move faster and began panting slightly. "Fae."

She yelped and mewled as she got used to the delicious penetration he was earning. "Oh, Yero." Elphaba closed her eyes and laid her head back on the pillow.

He nipped at her ears, making her moan lusciously. "I do love you, no matter what, you know."

She squirmed as her muscles tightened around him. "Fiyero!"

He kissed her neck as he moved quickly to his own pleasured release and then moved over, keeping them close but maneuvering her body over his. "What? You don't love me, too?"

She settled in to the shape of his body and smiled lopsidedly. "Of course I do." Elphaba rested her head against his shoulder happily. "I love you, too." Her eyes closed and she reached a hand out from behind his neck to wipe her forehead easily. And slowly she knew she was drifting off, but she didn't struggle to keep awake.

"And you know I love you?" He asked, running his fingers through her sweat-dampened hair softly. "Elphaba?" Fiyero poked her carefully, trying to keep her conscious for as long as possible, just to prolong her exhaustion.

"Yeah, I think I might." She responded sleepily, not taking the time to answer that she could if fully awake.

He nibbled at her chin teasingly. "Might?"

"Hey!" She swatted at him. "Stop that, you!"

"Stop what?" He kept dragging his teeth ever so lightly down her neck, aware that he was making her shudder.

"You know," she answered lazily.

"I don't. I don't know anything until you confirm that you know I love you." He told her firmly, grasping her free hand.

"All right, all right already. I know. I know you love me." And she did.


	52. Small Favors

**Chapter Fifty-Two: Small Favors**

Glinda returned that day only to tell them that she was to leave the castle again later that evening. "I've been invited to dinner by one of the families."

Elphaba and Fiyero looked at one another, reading more into Glinda than she thought they could. Fiyero said, "What family?"

Glinda took a deep breath.

They already knew the answer. Elphaba groaned. "Glinda, what are you thinking?"

"Hey! As you said, he didn't do much wrong, Elphie. He's a nice man. Besides, his daughter will be there. It's not like anything can happen." Glinda said defensively.

"He has ways of getting rid of his daughter for an hour or two," Fiyero said sourly.

Elphaba gave Fiyero a sideways glance and then shook her head at Glinda. "This is too soon."

"Too soon? You've had me by your side daily for a month, now, and I've been speaking with him after school every day. How is this too soon?" Glinda demanded.

"Look, Glinda, don't go. You'll upset her. And she'll take it out on me. Sometimes that's fun. Sometimes it's not." Fiyero intervened.

Elphaba reached to smack Fiyero, but he ducked. "It won't be fun," she threatened.

"See?" He pouted.

"I am going and there is nothing you two can do to stop me! If you want to kick me out, I'll stay at his place."

Both Elphaba and Fiyero recoiled at this idea. Elphaba sighed and hung her head, defeated. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you. He's four years older than you, though, just remember that."

"What difference does it make?"

"Experience."

"You're telling me he's had more experience than you two?" Glinda argued.

"He has." Fiyero shot back. "He's had a kid."

Elphaba winced and looked away.

Fiyero bit his lip. "Look, it's fine. You can go."

Elphaba nodded silently.

Glinda was confused at what had suddenly caused Elphaba such distress, but she knew Fiyero wanted to handle it himself. "I'll go, then. I'll be back in a few hours. Don't worry about me."

When the door shut behind Glinda, Fiyero wrapped his arms around Elphaba, "I didn't mean anything by that."

"You did have a point. Because of me, you're missing out on the entire experience of being a father." Elphaba said softly.

"I'd rather have you." He promised.

Again, there was someone at the door. They ignored it and left it to the servants. The couple was about to head upstairs when Fiyero's father called, "Son, come down here."

Hand in his, Elphaba followed him back down the stairs. When he dropped her hand, she was sure she understood why.

A dignitary from the Scrow, a _female_, was standing in the doorway with two of her men, bodyguards, perhaps. She had long dark hair and her eyes were as violet as the last layer of a rainbow. Her body had more curves to it than Elphaba's, and her dress was cut low at the neck revealing large, voluminous breasts.

Fiyero immediately bowed and stuck his hand out. "Welcome."

"This is Anlea, you remember her from when you were kids, don't you?" Fiyero's father said. "You two used to say you were going to get married."

Elphaba's face darkened.

Fiyero's father continued, "We have some business to work on. I thought that you'd help out."

Elphaba, seeing that she wasn't needed, headed upstairs into the bedroom, grappling for her favorite book on the pillow. She didn't get jealous. Not her. Elphaba was not the type of woman to get jealous. Besides, that was Fiyero's job.

She heard voices down the hall a few hours later and got up, peering through the crack in the door to see.

They were laughing. She watched in horror as Anlea softly placed her hand on Fiyero's arm. Quickly, the woman kissed him on the cheek. "It was nice seeing you again."

Fiyero's father came into view. "Your guest room is just down the hall."

"I'll show her to it, Father." Fiyero said.

Of course, Elphaba reasoned, he was always gentlemanly. It was just his nature. When he didn't enter their room until and hour later, she tried not to be perturbed. Instead, she asked, "She's staying here?"

Fiyero shrugged. "Yeah. The Scrow headquarters is a bit far off. She's their queen."

"Why aren't they opposed to women doing anything but caring for children, the way the Arjiki are?"

"I don't know. We really aren't much different. But her parents died and she was the only child. She still hasn't married."

Elphaba wondered for a moment if Anlea had any idea that Fiyero was married, or if that had just slipped his mind. She smiled falsely, and curled up beneath the blankets. "Oh."

He got into bed next to her and wearily wrapped an arm about her waist. "It was good to talk to her again."

Elphaba just pretended to be asleep.

The day after next, when Glinda told her she was going to have dinner with Kalendrio again, Elphaba wasn't even fazed. Fiyero had been working with Anlea all day long. His father had taken breaks. The other two had not. She watched Glinda go halfheartedly and made her way upstairs again.

On her way past the throne room, she had an idea. She tapped the servant outside the room on the shoulder. "Could you please fetch Fiyero with me and tell him I'd like to see him in our room?"

The servant nodded.

She dashed into the bedroom, undressed and buried herself under the covers, waiting eagerly for Fiyero.

Fiyero entered the room, looking somewhat peeved. "What?"

"Nothing." Elphaba rose from the bed, revealing her body to him. "I've just been terribly lonely all day." She slinked across the bedroom towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You know, I don't like it when you're gone, love."

Fiyero stared at her. His irritation went dry as quickly as his mouth. "Fae, I… well, you… oh, forget that." He kissed her longingly, kicked the door shut and it wasn't very much time before they were tangled on the bed.

"I love you." Elphaba said afterwards, smiling into his eyes.

"I… Fae, can you do me a favor?"

"Anything for you, love." She giggled.

"Could you not disturb me when I'm working? It doesn't look very good. I need to make the most of my time with Anlea."

He did not understand why suddenly the romance disappeared and she would not speak for the rest of the night.


	53. Hypocrite?

**Chapter Fifty-Three: Hypocrite?**

Fiyero sighed and rested his cheek on his hand. He was getting dreadfully bored. Really, it had been nice talking to Anlea for the first two days she'd been there, catching up was always fun, but it was getting irritating now. She was always touching him, which totally ruined the daydreams he was having about Elphaba. By this time, Fiyero had begun to remember why he hadn't, in fact, married her.

"So, Fiyero, are you agreeable to that?" She was asking.

He snapped his head up. "Hmm? What?"

Anlea frowned. "Well, I guess it is getting late. You should probably get back to the wife."

He glared at her. Fiyero did not like the tone Anlea used whenever she talked about Elphaba – mocking, rude, sarcastic, disgusted. It didn't help that Elphaba and his relationship wasn't going so well. By the times he got to be alone with her every night, there wasn't much to say or do except sleep. She'd grown distant and he had been hoping, tonight, to find the time to talk to her about it. Unfortunately, it didn't look like that would be the case. "Yes, I probably should."

"Have a good time." She teased.

_I wish_, he thought. It was too late to "have a good time". And even if it hadn't been, he doubted Fae would've really wanted to, not in the mood she was in. He didn't know what in Oz was her problem. She used to get annoyed because he was around her too much. Well, thanks to Anlea and to his dismay, that had stopped, what could she possibly be mad about now? "You know where your guest room is by now, I assume? I was hoping you'd have figured it out after a week and a half and I could stop walking you." Fiyero said coolly.

She wrinkled her nose. "I'll try."

In any other time, any other situation, that sort of thing would've had Fiyero do the polite thing and show her the way. But he knew she was only trying to get him to do just that and that she did not, in fact, need his help. "Goodnight."

"You, too."

Elphaba was asleep when he entered the room. He groaned. Damn. Fiyero had really wanted some time alone with her. It would be unfair to wake her, though. Instead, he planted a kiss on her forehead and got into bed. She shifted. "Are you asleep?"

"Trying to be."

"Oh. Okay, then. I won't bother you. Sorry."

She groaned inwardly. If only he _would_ bother her, wake her in the middle of the night, kiss her until she gave in and opened her eyes, tease her until she moaned, _something_. As he pulled her body slightly closer to his, she wondered if he really needed _her_ beside him or just the comfort of another body. Elphaba shuddered and tried to forget her thoughts.

Fiyero hugged her closer. "You all right?"

"Fine. Just one of those moments, where someone walks over your grave or whatever."

This caused Fiyero to shiver, as well. "I don't want to think about your grave, or mine." He whispered.

She didn't answer and fell asleep.

Anlea was worse the next day. She was constantly leaning into him and feigning weariness to lean her head on his shoulder while his father spoke. He was trying to shrug her off when Elphaba entered the room unannounced.

Her eyes zeroed in on Anlea and Fiyero. At that exact moment, in the midst of what she didn't know what Fiyero shrugging Anlea _off_, it looked as if his arm was around her. She cringed. Fiyero's father gave her an expectant look and she opened her mouth but said nothing.

Fiyero stood up. "Fae?"

"Sorry, Your Highness," she managed to blurt to Fiyero's father before turning on her heel and leaving the room.

"That's it." Fiyero said.

"What?" His father asked.

"I get it. You wanted me to marry Anlea. Mom doesn't seem to have a problem with Elphaba, and neither do I. Screw your bullshit 'royal business', I need some alone time with my wife!" Fiyero snapped. He glared at Anlea and his father, and then strode out of the room after Elphaba.

She was in their bedroom, staring at the wall, silent. When he cleared his throat she said, "Anlea could give you children, I'll bet. Beautiful children."

"Is that what this is about again?"

"No." She still didn't turn to him. "You loved her once."

"I was infatuated with her when I was six."

Elphaba took a deep breath. "I'm not accusing you of committing adultery; you're too much of a gentlemen to actually do that."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"I can't. I won't hear you pull another 'but Fae, I love you so much, I'd die'. You don't need to bother. Go ahead. I'm giving you permission to do as you wish, since I know you won't do anything if I don't say it's okay. But just be aware that I've been thinking of sleeping in my own room, or maybe my own little hut in the village, or maybe in the schoolhouse…"

"Shut up." He grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth with his hand, trying not to wince when she bit down. "You are going to listen to me."

"Why? So you can explain? So you can say 'Fae, I'm sorry, I thought I loved you, but I don't. Please forgive me for taking your virginity, two years of your life and making sweet love to you all the time,'?" She hissed. "Or 'please forgive me for marrying you, making you love me, putting you through hell by trying to kill myself because I thought I loved you so much, satisfying you both physically and emotionally in the most wonderful ways possible…'" Elphaba covered her face and trailed off.

Fiyero squeezed her against him even harder, sitting on the bed with her and kissing what he could of her cheeks that weren't covered by her struggling hands. "I've never loved anyone but you. I never thought I loved you; I knew. Anlea irritates me to no end. What you saw was me trying to shrug her off. All she's been doing is touching me and I don't like it. Do you really think I _want_ to be locked up in that room with her and my father all day? I did it because my father told me to. But he only told me to because he wanted me to marry Anlea. I didn't see that. I didn't see that she was in on it, too. You saw that, and you thought I saw that. I didn't see that. I'm a little dim sometimes."

She grudged him a short laugh.

"Please believe me. Would I have even come in here after you? Would I have yelled at both my father and Anlea two minutes ago? I do love you more than anything, I always will, and you, of all people, should stop being paranoid. Kalendrio."

She wanted to believe him. Turning and looking up at his eyes, she saw no falsehood. "You're right. Who am I to talk? I tell you to stop hanging around me all the time, almost commit adultery, and then get jealous when some girl hangs on you and you're not constantly with me? I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I guess I just like you around more than I let on." Elphaba smiled slyly.

"Just a little?" He teased.

Elphaba buried her face in his chest and he buried his in her hair and cradled her in his arms. "I'm sorry."

"I am, too."

When Anlea had to leave (the next day), it was morning, before Elphaba had headed off to school. After breakfast, Fiyero and Elphaba stood together in the hall to see Anlea off. Once Anlea had left, Elphaba turned to head upstairs to grab a few things, but found Fiyero's father standing in her way. Elphaba could not look at Fiyero's father. But he looked at her. "Elphaba."

She didn't speak, only wrinkled her nose at him.

"I should've trusted my son's judgment. That woman is damn annoying. No wonder he didn't marry her. I figured that much out when I was stuck with her for two hours. He married the right woman the first time, and I apologize for not seeing that."

But Elphaba, being one who holds grudges well, could not easily forgive him. Instead she said, "I see," and ran up the stairs.

Fiyero shook his head. "She's not so easily swayed."

"Stubborn?"

"You bet."


	54. Difficult

**Chapter Fifty-Four: Difficult**

Before Elphaba returned to the castle that day, Fiyero's father beckoned him into the throne room. "Look, I told her I was sorry."

"Why do you care, Dad?" Fiyero challenged.

"She's going to be the mother of my grandchildren one day, I might as well get along with her."

Fiyero shook his head. "No, she won't be."

"What?"

"She can't have children, Dad. Something happened with the medication she was taking and now…"

"You need an heir."

"When one of my brothers has kids, let one of their sons be the heir." Fiyero waved it away.

"People sometimes don't feel confident in the king if he doesn't produce an heir."

"We'll deal with it when we come to it."

Fiyero's father sighed heavily. "Whatever. But I need her to forgive me. I don't need tension in this castle."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"I'd like for you to find a good time for me to talk to her. You know, when she's in a good mood."

"I can't control her moods."

Quietly, his father said, "But you can make her happier at some points."

"I am not interpreting this right. Did you just tell me to sex her up?" Fiyero folded his arms across his chest.

"Not at all. But I'm certainly not telling you not to, if you think that'll help her be in a good mood by tomorrow afternoon."

"Why should I?"

"Are you really asking me why you should have sex with your wife?"

Fiyero stomped out of the room without answering. Glinda was waiting in the front hall, as well, as she was to leave for yet another visit with Kalendrio as soon as Elphaba returned. He struggled to pull a smile. "Hey."

"Hi. Is that lady gone yet?"

"Huh?"

"That one that had Elphaba so pissed off."

"Oh, Anlea. Yeah, she's gone. Elphaba has trouble admitting it, but she does get quite a bit jealous."

"She does. I knew she would." The door opened. "Elphie! Hello and goodbye. I've got to get going."

Glinda was out the door, leaving Elphaba staring. "What the hell? Sweet Kumbricia, she needs to slow down sometimes."

Fiyero smiled at her genuinely. He thought about what his father had suggested and decided he wouldn't initiate anything tonight. However, if she did, he would certainly not reject her. It was unfair and difficult. But just thinking about it, he wondered if he mightn't start something. She was so hard to resist, especially when he thought about making love to her. Sweetly, he leaned down to kiss her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "How was your day, love?"

"It was all right. Did you know that these days Kalendrio doesn't even pick up Drienna when I'm teaching? I think we knew who he's got his mind set on." Elphaba looked towards the door. "I just hope she can keep herself safe."

"Mmm." Fiyero mumbled. Pressing his nose to hers, he said, "I think you're the one who better worry about keeping safe. Your devoted husband has some thoughts in his mind you might need rescuing from."

Elphaba raised her eyebrows and then pretended to faint. "I'm a damsel in distress."

"You'll be in quite a lot of distress with me in a few minutes," he scooped her into his arms and carried her up the stairs.

Glinda came home very late in the evening. She found Fiyero's parents in the living room. "Are Elphaba and Fiyero still up?"

"I don't know. They haven't left the room since she came home. Not even for dinner." His mother looked a little wary.

Fiyero's father shrugged. "They're probably just enjoying some alone time. No need to bother them."

Glinda nodded. She didn't see Elphaba when Glinda left for her day of teaching the next day, either.

Late in the morning, Fiyero kissed Elphaba awake. "How you feeling?"

"Like you need to do that more often." She grinned.

Fiyero replied, "How about one more time right now?"

Later in the afternoon, the couple headed downstairs into the living room and curled up on the couch. Fiyero's father came in and Elphaba shifted closer to Fiyero uncomfortably.

"How are you two doing?" He asked amiably.

Elphaba just looked down.

Fiyero ran his fingers through Elphaba's hair. "We're all right."

"Just all right?" Elphaba teased.

"Mmm, more than all right." He told her.

"I see you're both in a, well, good mood." Fiyero's father winked at Fiyero.

Elphaba stood up then, not ignorant to what was going on. To Fiyero, she said, "I should slap you."

"Huh?"

"The men in this family are very bad at subtlety." She said, storming out of the room.

"Damn it, Dad! I didn't even do it because you told me to! Well, not exactly." Fiyero stumbled for words.

"I didn't mean… shit. You really married a difficult woman." Fiyero's father shook his head.

"She wouldn't be so difficult if people would stop nosing their way into our lives." Fiyero answered heatedly. He ran after Elphaba and grabbed her by the wrist before she even reached the stairs. "Fae, wait. Listen to me."

"What? Listen to you tell me that you only had sex with me because your father told you to? I thought you wanted me."

Fiyero laughed. "How could I not? Look, in a way, it was because he told me to. But I didn't plan on doing it. It's just… with that thought in my head and you right there, suddenly I couldn't help myself. If anything, I wanted you so bad I had to, even though I didn't want to take his suggestion. Fae, please, he doesn't mean to be such an ass."

"By telling you to 'get me in a good mood'?"

It was funny, since that had been exactly what Fiyero's father had said. Fiyero sighed. "He just wants to make things right. My father knows you're a bit… set in your ways, especially when you're angry, so he was just trying to find a way to resolve things."

"Telling you to fuck me in no way was the right way to resolve things!"

Fiyero wrapped his arms around her and dragged her against him. "Shhh. I know it's hard for you to understand. Things around here are strange to you. But I love you, and I did want you, and my father means well."

Her voice was muffled against him, "I'm sure. But that doesn't make it okay."

"Let it go this time, please?"

She pulled away slightly and looked into his eyes. The plea in them was just impossible to resist. Kissing him on the cheek, she whispered, "Fine. Just this time."


	55. Elphaba's Solution

**Chapter Fifty-Five: Elphaba's Solution**

But things never stayed perfect for long. One evening several months later, Elphaba walked in on Glinda in the bathroom vomiting and crying at the same time.

"Dear Kumbricia, Glinda, please tell me you're just sick." Elphaba said softly.

"Um, Elphie, I think I might be pregnant." Glinda whispered.

Elphaba took a deep breath. "You have got to be kidding me."

Glinda shook her head.

"Damn it, Glinda! What kind of idiot are you?" Elphaba placed her hands on her hips. "I thought you knew better. Sweet Oz, you haven't even known him that long. How long have you two been…?"

"A little while."

"Why?"

"I don't know! Drienna had gone to bed and we just got carried away, I guess."

"Do you know how many times Fiyero and I could've gotten carried away before we were married and didn't?" Elphaba demanded. After a pause, she asked, "And didn't it hurt?"

"For about a second. Then it went away."

"Damn, you're lucky."

"On the contrary, I am certainly not. Maybe if it had hurt, I wouldn't have been so easily swayed into doing it again, and I wouldn't be sitting here, on the floor of your bathroom, two months pregnant."

"At least you can get pregnant." Elphaba lowered herself to Glinda's level.

"What do you mean?"

"Because of the medication I took when Fiyero and I were first married, I can't have children, Glinda." Elphaba said softly.

"What am I going to do?"

"Well, you two can get married to make an honest woman out of you…"

"As you said, we haven't known each other that long. We agreed we won't."

"So he knows?"

Glinda nodded.

"That's one thing out of the way. Wear loose clothing for a while, to hide it. After that… you know what? I think I have an idea. I'm going to send a servant to fetch Kalendrio so he's here in about an hour, all right? Then I'm going to talk to Fiyero. You stay here until you feel better, but be downstairs in the conference room in an hour."

"Okay." Glinda said weakly.

"He's coming _here_?" Fiyero growled in the hallway as Elphaba dragged him out of the throne room.

"Yes. The four of us are going to talk." Elphaba said calmly.

"What do you or I have anything to do with this?"

"Think of how it would look if she had a child out of wedlock, Fiyero. And think of how it would look if I never had a child at all, Fiyero. If we can mask it well enough…"

"Are you saying we're going to pretend that child is ours?"

Elphaba played with her hands. "Something like that."

"Fae, that's…"

"A little absurd, I know, but…"

"It's brilliant."

She smiled. "I hoped you'd see it my way."

"Do you think they'll agree to it?"

"We'll see. It's not as if they can't raise it themselves."

"How? It'd have to live here."

"Glinda lives here, anyway."

"But Kalendrio…"

"We have enough room for him and Drienna." Elphaba said quietly.

"No way. I will not have that man living in my house!" Fiyero shouted.

"First of all, Fiyero, it's a damned palace. Second of all, it's the only way! Besides, you don't have to worry about him making moves on me, anymore. And we can watch the two of them so we make sure he and Glinda behave." Elphaba reasoned.

"Will the child look like ours?" Fiyero asked suddenly.

"It'll have half of your skin, since it's Kalendrio's. And my skin color would actually be something like Glinda's, if not for the green. So we can just say the green isn't genetic."

"You're good."

"I know."

Despite all of the evidence that Kalendrio now had no interest in Elphaba whatsoever, Fiyero held his arm around her tight when they all sat down across the table in the conference room. Kalendrio and Glinda held hands.

"Look, we're aware of your situation, and Elphaba has come up with an idea, a very good idea. I don't know how she came up with it, actually." Fiyero nudged her gently.

"The two of you can't really have a child, publicly. Fiyero and I can't have a child at all, biologically, because of some medication I took. If Glinda were to wear loose clothes, and I were to announce that I was pregnant and make it look like such, summer, coincidentally, comes just at the six month mark, when things would start to become very obvious. You two could live in the Palace, with Drienna, of course, and we'll pretend, publicly, that the baby is ours. You can raise it and it can know that you are its parents, but as a public front, it's ours. It would eventually inherit the throne, though."

Kalendrio and Glinda looked at one another. Finally Glinda said, "Could we have a moment?"

Elphaba nodded and she and Fiyero left the room.

They looked at each other as they stood outside the door. "Let's listen," suggested Fiyero.

Elphaba gasped and shoved him away from the door. "Uh uh. No, we won't." She tapped her foot. "Why can't you behave?"

"Because it's so much more fun when you have to keep me in line."

Elphaba giggled. "I love you."

He kissed her. "I love you, too."

A few minutes later, Glinda and Kalendrio called for the other couple to come back into the room. When they were all seated, Glinda said, "We'll do it."

"What else can we do, anyway?" Kalendrio mumbled, gently kissing Glinda's hand. He hugged her affectionately. "I'm sorry."

Glinda shrugged. "It's not your fault."

"I'm at least half to blame," he pointed out.

Elphaba cleared her throat. "When will you move in?"

Fiyero slumped in his chair.

Kalendrio bit his lip, looking at the Crown Prince.

"Ignore him." Elphaba suggested.

Glinda smiled at Kalendrio.

"As soon as possible," he answered.

"We can have someone sent out to help you with your things," Fiyero said dully.

"See? I told you he'd cooperate eventually," Elphaba ran her hand along Fiyero's arm, smiling inwardly. "Darling, could you please stop moping?"

"I'm not moping!" He argued.

Elphaba settled back in her chair. "Do you see what I put up with?"


	56. To Wear or Not to Wear?

**Chapter Fifty-Six: To Wear a Nightgown or Not to Wear a Nightgown?**

Elphaba opened her eyes and then closed them again. She instinctively woke up early, but it was now summer, and she didn't need to wake at this time, anymore. Reveling in the warmth of her husband's arms, she sighed contentedly. Maybe this morning, they could just nap and lounge like this for hours.

It was not to be. There was a knock on the door. Elphaba groaned, got up and opened the closet so she could throw on a nightgown. After straightening it out, she went to the door. "Damn it, Kalendrio, what is it _now_?"

"Glinda wants you to come downstairs and sit with her for a little bit."

"You know, she's only six months along. If you force her not to get up and to sit around like this, she really will get fat, and not just from pregnancy." Elphaba scolded.

Fiyero, never able to sleep without Elphaba, sat up in bed. "What's going on?" He eyed Kalendrio, and then Elphaba. "Why are you standing there talking to him in a nightgown?"

"Would you rather I got up and forgot the nightgown?" She demanded.

Fiyero flushed and then laughed. "Oh, yeah…"

Kalendrio raised his eyebrows at Elphaba. "Do you actually even use those?" He gestured to her gown.

"Not until you and Glinda started knocking on the door at ungodly hours of the morning, no." Elphaba placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes.

Kalendrio was amused. "So you two go to bed naked every night?"

"Why do you care?" Fiyero snapped.

"Nothing. You're just damn lucky. Married two years and you still get some every night." Kalendrio said.

Fiyero grinned. He didn't like to admit it, but he and Kalendrio sometimes actually got along well.

Elphaba made a noise in her throat. "We sleep naked, but it in no way means that we have sex every night, right Yero?"

"Well, occasionally we don't…" He winked at Kalendrio.

"Ugh! Men." Elphaba muttered. "And you," she turned on Kalendrio, "you better not be talking about it like that. You're getting _nothing_ after that baby is born or right now and not until you get married."

"That's what you think."

"I'm going to kill her." Elphaba decided.

"Hey, it's a proven fact, women who have sex during pregnancy are more likely to actually want to afterwards. Otherwise they're totally not into it anymore." Kalendrio argued.

"I thought we were watching you." She wondered.

"You can't be watching us all the time, not when you're in the bedroom, anyway…"

"I knew the servants never listened!"

Fiyero shrugged. "Whatever. It's fine. Didn't you say that in Kumbrician religion, fornication isn't frowned upon?"

"You're arguing in favor of this? You, of all people? I can't believe this!" Elphaba threw her arms in the air, exasperated.

Fiyero made to get up. "Fae…"

"For Oz's sake, Fiyero, if you don't wait until I shut this door to get out of bed, I do believe you'll have scarred Kalendrio for life."

"He's a man. We don't care." Fiyero opined, getting out of bed anyway.

"Put some clothes on, now!" Elphaba protested.

"Fine, fine."

Kalendrio and Fiyero looked at one another. "Women," they said in unison.

"What does Glinda see in you?" Elphaba glared at Kalendrio. To Fiyero she said, "And what did I ever see in you?" She shook her head. Looking back at Fiyero, who had yet to get dressed, she mumbled, "And no, it wasn't just _that_."

"She has to remind me of that," Fiyero stated, chuckling.

"Kalendrio, get the hell downstairs. You are not going to sit around and watch Fiyero and my morning habits, all right?"

"But Glinda… You're supposed to deal with her."

"'Deal with her'?" Elphaba repeated. "She didn't ask for me, did she? You just wanted to get away from the moody pregnant craziness for a moment. Well, you know what? No way. You told me it was fine that the two of you are having sex. I'll tell you right now, it's only fine if you 'deal with her'!" She slammed the door.

Fiyero looked at her, looking somewhat like a guilty puppy that's soiled the carpet, knows he's in trouble, but still wants one last chance to get out of it. "I love you?"

"Would you just get dressed?"

"No. We're alone again. I knew you'd send him away. So I didn't dress."

"Just because we're alone in our bedroom doesn't mean we're going to have sex. Not after that conversation. Fiyero, could you please learn to be discreet?" She pleaded.

"Why?"

"Because that's not the sort of thing you broadcast to the world, Fiyero!"

Fiyero pouted.

"Oh, don't you dare give me that look! You know that's not fair." She covered her eyes, aggravated.

Fiyero grinned while she wasn't looking. He then pretended sadness again, and murmured, "But Fae..."

"No!" She glared at him.

He only pouted more.

She trembled and looked away. "Not this time."

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, cupping her face in his hands. "I love you. I'm sorry."

She bit her lip.

The nightgown didn't last another second.

When Kalendrio came up much, much later, he knocked on the door softly and it was Fiyero who answered. "Open the door, but please be quiet, she's asleep."

Had Elphaba been awake, she would've actually been thankful for Fiyero's paranoia with Kalendrio, as he'd pulled the blanket up to cover all but her face. Sleeping, she was nestled, smiling, against Fiyero's chest, hair tangled and matted and sweat still in the process of drying. She shifted a bit when the door opened, and Fiyero stared at her with wide eyes, but nothing else happened.

Fiyero took a deep breath, relieved. "She'll never admit it, but in every argument about sex, I win. Every single time. And I get one hell of a victory dance."

Elphaba, eyes still closed, snuggled closer, murmuring, "Mmm, Yero."

He gazed down at her, slightly concerned she'd wake. Softly, he asked, "Fae?"

She was asleep again, having pressed the swell of her breast (under the blanket, of course) against the back of his hand. Fiyero flipped his hand over and teased her lightly, looking at the window as if he were doing nothing.

Kalendrio said, "Um, well, I wanted to just see what happened to you two. She kicked me out and then no one left the room."

Fiyero dropped his hand away from her distractedly. "Sorry."

"Fiyero, darling," Elphaba mumbled, barely coherent, "that was so good."

Kalendrio bit back a laugh, with some major difficulty. "Nice."

"I told you, victory is sweet," Fiyero replied proudly, squeezing Elphaba's shoulders.

She started to stir, really stir. Her mouth widened into a yawn.

"I'm going to suggest," Fiyero whispered carefully, "that if you want to live to see that baby, you'd better get the hell out of here."

The door shut slowly.

Elphaba rubbed her eyes and looked up at Fiyero. "Who were you talking to?"

"No one. You. You were talking in your sleep and I was confused, so I responded." He lied.

"Oh. Okay. I didn't mean to bother you."

"It was fine, believe me."


End file.
